PESTILENCE THAT WALKETH IN DARKNESS
PART I: SCHISM
CHAPTER II: REVELATIONS

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Chris uttered the password that would grant her entrance to the Gryffindor common room, and climbed through the Fat Lady when the portrait swung open before her. She looked around for her friends, but spotted only Harry sitting amongst the furniture in front of the vacant fireplace. Forcing a smile onto her face, she moved across the room to join him.

"Hello," she spoke as she took her seat next to him. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"Off," he replied, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "You didn't meet them in the hallway?"

Chris shook her head as Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "No, I didn't. They must've gone the other way, or something."

Harry nodded, then kissed her in greeting. "They said that they would meet us at dinner in the Great Hall. What took you so long? Was your exam that hard?"

"It wasn't too bad," Chris fidgeted uncomfortably. "I just wanted to make sure that I got everything I possibly could. Passing the class depended on that exam."

"Yeah, History of Magic isn't the easiest class ever-"

"It's not the course itself, but Binns," Ron's voice entered the mix. "If he were easier to listen to, History of Magic would be a breeze."

Chris and Harry looked up to find Ron and Hermione taking seats across from them.

"I thought that you were going for a walk," Harry furrowed his brows in confusion as to why they had returned so soon.

"Somebody decided that it was too warm outside to go for a walk," Ron replied, glancing accusingly at Hermione.

Hermione let go of Ron's hand, then crossed her arms. "Sorry if I don't feel like working up a sweat. It's much more comfortable up here, out of the heat."

Proceeding to ignore Ron, Hermione turned to Chris. "How did your exam go? Did you make it there in time?"

The four of them laughed. Chris had stayed up the night before, studying for her exam, and had fallen asleep sometime in the late morning. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, on their way back from their morning exam, were surprised to find that Chris was still in the common room, asleep. They shook her awake, and she ran off to the Great Hall, with only a quarter of an hour to spare before she would have been designated as late.

"I got there with about ten seconds to spare before they shut the doors," Chris told them with a smile. "And I'm not too sure how I did on the exam. I forget everything there was to know about the goblin revolutions in the sixteenth century, except for the who, what, and when aspects about it, of course."

Ron and Harry laughed, but Hermione continued to speak in a serious manner. "And other than that?"

Chris shrugged. "I think I passed and, right now, that's all that I care about. When my post-exam stress wears away, then I'll start worrying about whether or not I got a good grade. So, what should we do until dinnertime?"

"Go for a walk?" Ron sarcastically suggested, glancing indicatively towards Hermione again.

She ignored him. "Why don't we go down to the lake?"

Chris stood from her seat. "I'm all for it. It's too bad that McGonagall banned swimming again, though. I could really go for that right now."

"Me too," Harry agreed, taking a hold of Chris' hand as they left the common room. "If those stupid fifth years hadn't decided to go skinny dipping past curfew last week, we would have been able to."

Chris looked at him in bewilderment. "Who went skinny dipping?"

Ron laughed, deciding to field the question. "A couple of fifth years from our house and from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff did. I saw them when Filch was frog marching them back into the school-"

"When you were in detention?"

"Yes, but that's beside the point," Ron told Hermione, continuing on. "Filch told me that no one was supposed to know except for himself, Dumbledore, and the Heads of Houses. So, keep it to yourself. If everyone found out, then Filch would know that I had told someone, and he threatened me with those chains in his office if I broke my promise to him."

Harry and Chris laughed, but Hermione only rolled her eyes. "Selfish," Harry and Chris heard her mutter under her breath as they left the school through the Entrance Hall.

They crossed the wide expanse of lawn, moving towards the lake. A large portion of the student body seemed to have the same track of mind as Hermione, for they too had decided on gathering on the lake's shores.

When they reached it, they looked up and down the water's edge for a place to sit. "There doesn't seem to be any room left."

"Oh ye of little faith," Ron spoke to Chris, letting go of Hermione's hand and making a beeline for a group of first years sitting against one of the larger trees. "Hey, get lost. Let us sit there."

"No way!" the smallest of the kids piped up. "We were here first!"

"Ugh," Hermione groaned in disgust. "Ron, leave them alone! They're only first years! We'll just find somewhere else."

"No way, Hermione-"

"Hey, what's going on here?"

Ron's gaze snapped away from the kids before him, and his eyes widened in fear. Harry, Hermione, and Chris recognized the approaching person as one of the Chasers on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and as the physically largest student in the school.

"What's it to you?" Ron poked the giant boy in the chest as he reached him, still trying to keep up a tough persona.

"You're bugging my little brother and his friends?" he rumbled, his deep voice carrying across the beach, and gaining the attention of the students, who began to watch in amusement, their own pursuits forgotten.

"Ron, don't," Hermione mumbled anxiously under her breath. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Harry sighed, glancing at Chris. "You and Hermione go and find us a place to sit. I'll pick Ron up when-"

Crack.

Chris flinched as she heard fist hit face, but quickly regained her composure. Fighting back a laugh at Ron's terrible luck, she pulled Hermione away from Harry, and headed for the far end of the lake, where less people were situated.

Hermione steamed about Ron's stupidity as they walked along. "I can't believe that he can be so thick. Sometimes, I don't know why I put up with him. That idiot-"

Chris could no longer contain her laughter. "Oh, come on, lighten up, Hermione. It's funny, and you know it. And, if he doesn't learn a lesson now, having been clobbered by that giant back there, then it'll be positively hilarious."

Hermione pursed her lips, and Chris knew that she was holding back her laughter. Hermione usually refrained from laughing at Chris' jokes, determined not to encourage her in her comedic ways.

"How about here?" Hermione asked Chris, indicating an unoccupied spot beyond a group of Slytherins. "It's not the best, but it seems that it'll be all we'll get today."

"All right," Chris agreed, removing her school sweater, her shoes, and her socks.

"You might want to be careful," Hermione told her, looking warily at the Slytherins, who began to watch Chris as she undid the topmost buttons of her blouse.

"Doesn't matter. I don't have that much to show anyways," Chris shook her head, then turned to the Slytherins. "Show's over, guys."

Though slightly disappointed, the boys that had been watching her make herself more comfortable turned back to their own conversation.

"Have you got an elastic on you?" Chris asked Hermione, grabbing her long, blonde hair and throwing it back over her shoulders.

Hermione pulled an elastic from around her wrist and handed it to her. "I want it back when you're done with it, though. That's my last one."

"All right," Chris nodded, putting her hair back into a low ponytail. "Just remind me later before I go to sleep, and I'll give it to you then."

Chris leaned up against the tree, and then looked back in the direction they had come from. "Here they come."

Hermione grumbled, but did not look. Chris continued to watch them as they made their way over, a bruised Ron being supported by Harry. As they moved closer, Chris could see that Harry, too, was trying his best to suppress laughter.

"I'm not patching you up," Hermione spoke from her sprawled position on the ground as they arrived. "So don't even bother asking."

"Come on, Hermione," Ron complained, rubbing his blackening eye. "It hurts-"

"If you're going to be stupid like that, then you can just wait until later," Hermione cut him off.

Harry gave Chris a smile of amusement as he took a seat next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Want to bet on how long it'll be before she caves?"

Chris nodded, laughing quietly to herself. "I'll give her ten minutes. You?"

Harry thought about it. "Three minutes."

"You're going to lose," Chris whispered as she shook his hand, setting the bet. "She's far too annoyed with him to do it in that short of time. What's the consequence?"

Harry hummed in thought, and then smiled. "Just pride this time, I think."

Harry continued to watch Ron and Hermione, keeping an eye with his watch as to how long Ron had been bugging Hermione about setting him right, but Chris' attention wandered as she heard a familiar voice.

"I don't give a flying - it doesn't matter."

Chris looked over at the Slytherins, having heard Draco's voice. He had just arrived, and was removing his school sweater in preparation to take his place amongst his friends.

"What happened, Draco?" Marcus Flint asked, laughing as he did so.

"She threw a lamp at me," Draco stated, throwing his sweater aside. "She didn't take it so well."

The Slytherins laughed raucously, Draco in the center of them. He glanced around, and his eyes skimmed over Chris. When he realized that she was there, he looked back, but then averted his gaze as Chris did. Chris' cheeks flushed, and she felt a strange embarrassment come over her about Harry's arm being around her waist, and about leaning onto him and lightly stroking his chest. She shook it off though, as Harry let a curse slip under his breath.

"Seven and a half minutes," he grumbled, looking down at her before commencing to watch Hermione heal Ron's black eye. "I guess you win."

"Hey, Weasley, what happened to you?" one of the Slytherins called over.

"Ignore them," Hermione spoke to Ron under her breath. "I'm just about done."

Chris watched Draco closely. Though one of his Slytherin buddies had called Ron out, he seemed to be restraining himself from saying anything. Finally, he opened his mouth to say something, but when he saw that Chris was looking at him, he shut it again, and then looked away.

"What's up with him?" Harry asked, having noticed as well.

"I don't know," Chris shrugged. "Maybe he can't think of anything clever to say?"

Harry accepted her answer, but Chris knew that her presence had been a factor to his quietness. She personally had not seen Draco insult her friends in the past year, but had heard plenty about it from them. She supposed that, because of the history they now shared, he still respected her enough to refrain from insulting her company ... but only when she was there.

The Slytherins continued to bother them after Ron had been healed; jeering about how he had probably been beat up by Hermione, even though they knew this was not true. However, their attempts to get a rise out of Ron failed, and they eventually stopped, reverting back to their previous conversation.

Chris felt herself begin to drift off in the warmth, but she forced herself to stay awake. This was the closest she had been to Draco outside of the classroom in the past year, and she was interested in how he had been doing, and what he had been up to. As Harry dozed off, his head on her shoulder, she listened raptly to the Slytherins' conversation.

"So, where's Pansy now?" Blaise's voice came.

"I don't know," Draco apathetically replied. "Probably crying on Millicent's shoulder, or something."

"Why'd you break up with her?"

'Draco and Pansy were going out?' Chris thought to herself. She opened her eyes a slit, and looked in his direction.

Draco scoffed, sneering. "It's Pansy. I couldn't stand her any longer."

"How long were you together?"

Draco thought about it, running his hand through his hair. "I don't know. Couldn't have been a month. Three weeks, maybe."

Marcus nodded, smiling as he thought. "Who's the new girl, then?"

Draco stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Draco," Marcus pressed him. "You never break up with a girlfriend unless you've got a new interest."

Draco shook his head, and scrunched up his nose. "There's no one new. You don't need to have someone else in mind in order to break up with Pansy."

"True," Marcus nodded. He himself had had his share of hook-ups with Pansy. "Just planning on going single for the summer, then?"

"I don't know," Draco shrugged, and then hurriedly changed the topic. "So, what are your plans for the summer?"

"Nothing," Marcus replied. "Going to visit family in Finland. "'Sall I know."

Draco nodded, then stood. "Well, I'll catch you later."

"Where are you going?"

"Dinner."

And with that, he was gone.

Marcus immediately turned back to Blaise. "See, I told you that something was different. Did you see? He didn't even heckle Weasley."

Blaise watched Draco's back, and then nodded. "Well, I might go too. If it's nearing dinnertime, that means that I'm scheduled to meet Sara soon."

When the rest of the Slytherins had all cleared off, following Blaise, Marcus, and Draco, Chris shook Harry's shoulder to wake him up. She had sensed that it was getting close to dinnertime. "Harry, you awake?"

Harry shifted, then stretched, yawning. "Sort of."

"It's time for-"

She was cut off as Ron's stomach growled loudly, and was followed by his frame beginning to stir. "What time is it?"

Harry glanced at his watch. "Nearly six."

Ron stood, and then helped Hermione up. "Let's go a little early. We might manage to get seats together."

"Thanks, Ron," Hermione smiled at him. Chris could tell that she was slightly surprised at his abruptly newfound politesse.

Harry and Chris hung back, giving Ron and Hermione a head start on their way back to the castle. "So, how should we spend our last night together?"

Chris shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm going to bed early, just in case you've got some funny ideas up in that head of yours."

Harry laughed, shaking his head. "There's nothing. I promise. Nothing tonight."

Chris sensed his sincerity, and smiled. As they moved back towards the school, Chris considered how smooth the afternoon with Harry had gone, which transformed her smile into a grin.

Maybe there was a chance for them, after all.