Snake's Skin

Chapter 3: Shedding

AN: thanks to those who have added this story to their favorites, Alerts, and reviewed. I've tried to post other stories for Harry Potter and it just doesn't go well for me, so I'm glad at least some people have taken an interest in this story. Again Thanks.

VVV

In the days that followed the event with Draco and his goons, Pansy's plan came to beautiful fruition. Harry acted as if he were helping Pansy get through the days with her injuries. He would do little things like carrying her books from class to class and bring her potions from Madame Pomfrey. At first they had just been acting, but soon they found that they were quite comfortable in each other's presence. Pansy found herself genuinely laughing at Harry's jokes and just overall enjoying his company. However it was not without its detractions. The Weasley girl was one of the first to openly object to Harry about his relationship with the pretty Slytherin. So Harry did the only thing he could, he laughed and said that they we're just friends. The Weasley girl did not believe him and had now taken to following them around sneakily, so Pansy took it upon herself to Stop Harry one morning while they went to their shared Potions class.

Pansy pulled Harry off to the side and pinned him into the corner with her good arm, pressing herself against him. "Pansy, w-what are you doing? Someone will see!" Harry whispered.

"That's the idea," She breathed heavily against his lips that was only a centimeter away from touching.

"What?"

"To our left, the girl from the family of red heads, Weasleys I think, she's been following us since you told her there was nothing going on."

"Ginny?" Harry almost moved to look, but Pansy forcibly brought his gaze back to her.

"I was thinking… it's been about a week since we first started hanging out…" Pansy teased Harry's lips with her own as she tried to look him in the eye (she was much shorter than he was). "…and who better to spread it around that we're a couple?" For a moment, there was a battle in Harry's mind; Pansy could see it in his eyes. Should he stick with the plan, or possibly hurt… It then dawned on Pansy, Harry cared for the red head… that would simply not do. Pansy pulled Harry into her lips and kissed him the way she had kissed him in the infirmary. This time was much more satisfying as he forgot everything and reciprocated the kiss. She threw her arms around his neck, wincing slightly from the pain in her arm, and gave a mumbled gasp when she felt Harry's hands move from the small of her back to cup her buttocks and squeeze gently. Pansy broke the kiss and pulled back with a snake-like smirk on her lips. "My, my… aren't we the suppressed one."

"Sorry." He quickly released her and apologized, but Pansy didn't untangle her arms from around his neck.

"Don't be." Pansy grined as she pushed herself back onto him and continued the kiss. She took great pleasure in having an audiance, smiling against Harry's lips as she noticed Ginny make an abrupt exit.

VVV

Hermione had been watching Harry and Pansy get along for the passed week with the intent of protecting Harry from the evil Slytherin's intentions. Much like she had noticed Ginny doing, Hermione was following the two between classes, but, unlike Ginny who had to follow from afar; Hermione could do it right at his side. She watched as Harry and Pansy moved from acquaintances to some measure of friendship, and she even resorted to carrying an Eros Cherub, a small pink flower used to detect the presence of a person affected by a love potion, she had gotten from Neville. However, the Cherub hadn't turned a bright red yet, so it was not a love potion. After a few days of not getting any answers, Hermione got a break. Pansy had broken away from Harry for a moment to hand the book Hermione had found Pansy's things (and sneakily put back when she was done copying the article) to Millicent Bulstrode.

This was where Hermione was now; she had followed Millicent into an abandoned section of the Herbology greenhouses and watched as she stirred a small vat of potion. Hermione had plenty of information to get both Millicent and Pansy into detention for the rest of the year, but Hermione was not like that. All she wanted was to know what they had planned for Harry; she didn't care what they were doing on their own time. So Hermione decided to make her presence known, "Hello." She said normally; causing Millicent to almost jump out of her skin.

"Granger!?" Millicent gasped, "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for Neville."

"Don't lie to me Granger."

"Fine, I was following you. You know brewing that particular potion is forbidden to those underage."

"It's no different than some of the things that you and potter do."

"Listen, I don't care if you have that potion. I don't care what you use it for. Unless it's to hurt Harry…" Hermione drew her wand and cornered Millicent with it menacingly at her throat. "You will tell me what that potion is for or I'll lock your tongue to your stomach." For a moment Millicent was silent, but soon she let out a sigh.

"I told Pansy someone was going to find out."

"Find out what?"

Hermione listened intently to Millicent's story about the evil that was Draco and his disregard for those around him. She listened as she heard what Draco had done to Pansy and how Pansy wanted revenge against the silver haired ferret. She might not have believed Millicent's story, but Millicent was never a good liar. What's more Millicent spoke in the manor a Hufflepuff might have when someone crossed one of their friends. So Hermione took Millicent's story as truth… for now. "I see," Hermione rubbed her chin in thought with a smile, "that plan would definitely bring him down a few pegs, but how does Harry fit into it?"

"He's… a place holder…"

"She's using him!?"

"You could say that, but Harry agreed with the plan to act friendly with Pansy in order to get Draco's goat, so to say."

"I see." Hermione stood up, "I suppose I won't say anything." Millicent let out a breath she had been holding in since the beginning of the conversation with Hermione. "…but if anything happens to Harry, I will give his fan club all of your personal information, clear?"

"…crystal"

"Good, carry on then." Hermione left to go find Harry, Pansy and Ron once more.

"Harry has a fan club?" wondered Millicent to herself.

VVV

As the next week passed Harry and Hermione told no one of what they knew about Pansy's plan, not even Ron. Harry and Pansy continued to become closer and closer skewing the line between act and reality. Too many people, it was a scandalous affair as if Harry were cheating on his house with a Slytherin. It was a source of constant amusement for Pansy as Harry related the stories to her in the courtyard of how Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas cornered him and threatened him like they were Gryffindor's older brothers coming to protect her honor. Pansy usually smiled a distant smile when he told her of how Ron and Hermione would always stand next to him when things like that happened.

Pansy recounted different stories to Harry, about her own brushes in the common room. Hers were much less humorous. Slytherin was united in their disapproval of her relationship with Harry and after a dead snake was pinned to her vanity by a rather ornate knife she had taken to locking and warding her door at nights. It was for this reason that Harry took to watching Pansy even when they were separated. Every so often Harry would look at her when passing her in the corridor or across the great hall. After awhile it was just something he caught himself doing and more often than not Pansy caught him and gave him a flirtatious wave.

However, all his checking up on her paid off one night when he found Pansy heading toward the Herbology greenhouse and Draco following closely behind. Harry moved closely and cast a silencing spell on his feet to make sure that Draco didn't detect him. He would have just pulled Draco away from her and hexed into next week, but if there was one thing that he learned about Pansy, is that she hated it when other people tried to fight her battles. So Harry just followed the silver haired ferret as he followed Pansy.

Sure enough they came to the Herbology greenhouses, and Pansy addressed Millicent with a hearty hello. Like the vulture that he was, Draco jumped from his hiding spot and drew his wand on his former betrothed. "What are you two doing here?" he snipped as he turned to the cauldron of potion, "What's this."

"Go to hell, Draco." Pansy spat and reached for her wand.

"Expeliarmus!" Draco shouted as her wand was immediately knocked away, "I'm tired of playing games with you, Pansy; I doubt anybody will miss a blood-traitor and half blood like you two if you turn up in the river face down." Pansy may yell at him later but if he didn't do something fast this was going to go to a place that neither wanted it to go.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled with a swish of his wand. Draco dodged the burst of magic and stepped back, his foot bumping the cauldron in the middle of the floor.

"I knew you would show up, Potter. Just can't keep your nose out of things."

"That was a death threat Malfoy; I'm sure the professor Dumbledore will want to hear about that."

"Bloody little snitch…" Draco waved his wand wordlessly and a blue light shot from its tip.

"Protego!" Harry was engulfed in a greenish field of magic, and the blue spell bounce off in a harmless direction. Harry was surprised, he had not expected wordless magic from Draco and it was enough to slow his reactions enough so that Draco could get another spell in while his guard was down.

"Accio Harry!" Harry was pulled into the air toward Draco. Draco smiled smugly as he prepared to cast another spell thinking that Harry was off balance, but Harry was more at home in the air and cast one of his own.

"Depulso!" Harry cast the opposite of the Accio spell and knocked Draco into a slide on the floor. With a loud crash, Harry landed on top Draco just as he slid into the cauldron.

"Harry, get out of the way!" Screamed Pansy, pointing to the rather large cauldron as it threatened to tip over. Harry tried to do so but found that Malfoy was now holding him in place and attempting to punch him. Time seemed to slow as Harry watched the cauldron tip forward. Both Millicent and Pansy were screaming for him to move at this point but Draco wasn't going to allow it. Harry moved his body as much as he could and Draco grabbed his shirt. Just as Harry's shirt ripped from his torso, the potion splashed onto both of them as Pansy and Millicent hid their faces in each other's shoulders.

Harry wretched. His body convulsed as the foreign substance soaked his skin. Soon it felt as if millions of tiny needles stabbed his every pore and wiggled about just enough to widen the miniscule holes. It wasn't so much pain, but rather his muscles tensing and flexing as if he was exorcising. The tension built in his body to where he was in an arch on the floor screaming for his muscles to relax. Then… finally... they did.

The girls looked at Harry, then his chest, and the girls looked at Draco, then his chest. The girls then turned to each other as Harry and Draco lay unconscious on the ground, "Well, that didn't happen like we thought…"

AN: Sorry for taking so many chapters to get to this point, but I like to take my time with things. Now is where the fun part starts, I hadn't found any stories that played Draco as a girl (a lot where Harry is a girl, but not a one for Draco) so I decided to write one. Let me know what you think!