Surviving Malfoy _ Part I – Shock and Denial

Chapter 4

"Malfoy!"

A thick branch of wood had tangled itself around a tuft of my hair, painfully pulling on it, while I tried to retrieve one of the pods from the Snargaluff stump in front of me.

"I'm trying!" Malfoy shot back at me. He had grabbed the branch and tried to keep it from pulling out my hair, in vain.

I pulled hard on the slippery pod, tugging it out of the stump that immediately ceased it's attack on my hair and let it fall into a bowl Blaise was holding out for me. I rubbed the sore spot on the back of my head.

"Thanks for nothing." I said irritably.

"Baldness suits you, Carter." Malfoy said, a slick grin on his face.

"Sod off." I was indeed missing a few strands of my hair, I'd have to regrow that tonight.

"Could you two stop bickering and help me over here?" Blaise asked who was trying to squeeze open the pod in the bowl.

"We're not bickering." I said. "And don't squeeze it like that, use the hammer."

Blaise rolled his eyes at me.

"You do it then." He said annoyed.

I gladly left my spot next to Malfoy, grabbed the hammer and used it to smash open the pod, releasing the pale green tubers inside into the bowl.

"'Slug Club'" The hateful sneer came from the neighbouring table, making all three of us turn around to look at Ron and Hermione, just to hear the latter say "We're allowed to bring guests and I was going to ask you to ask you to come, but if you'd rather I hooked up with McLaggen..."

I raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"See?" I turned to Blaise. "That's bickering."

Blaise snorted.

"À propos Slug Club." He said. "D'you know who you're taking to Sluggie's christmas party yet?"

"Nope." I said. "I was thinking about maybe going solo with Hermione, but that plan's changed..." I looked over to their table, both Ron and Hermione were slightly red in the face and Harry seemed to avoid both their gazes.

"Well we could go together." Blaise said. I raised my eyebrows at him. "As friends." He added.

"I thought you were going to take me!" Malfoy said.

"And have half the school think we're dating? Honestly Malfoy, it's not worth it."

I snickered and Malfoy shot me a nasty look.

"How about you two go together?" Blaise asked sweetly.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows at him.

"Oh no, it's definitely not worth that." He said and I shot him a nasty look.

"Let's bet-" Blaise said gleefully.

"I'm not taking him, Blaise!" I interjected.

"On tomorrows match." He continued, ignoring me. "Slytherin wins, you're taking Draco. Gryffindor wins, we're going together."

"Hell no!" I said.

"I'm in."

"What?!"

"Turn down the volume, Miss Carter." Professor Sprout said forcefully from across the greenhouse. "If you don't mind."

Indeed, I had earned myself a few quizzical looks from my fellow classmates.

"What are you going on about Malfoy?" I asked, more quietly this time.

"Slytherin won't win anyway, might as well make Blase shut up and go in on that bet." He said matter-of-factly.

"Not very confident in your own house, are you?" I said.

"I'm not playing." Malfoy said darkly. "Montague's playing Harper instead. Slytherin's doomed."

"So then it's settled." Blaise said, a wide grin on his face. "Slytherin wins and you take Draco!"

ooOoo

"I'm almost tempted to loose." Harry said, later that day in the common room when I reported my conversation with Blaise and Malfoy to him.

"Don't you dare, Harry!" I said.

"Why not?" He asked. "You could spend the evening trying to get something out of him! And who knows what kind of information he'd spill under the influence of a bit of butterbeer."

My mouth dropped open.

"You're not being serious, are you?" I said.

Harry shrugged.

"It's an opportunity we should consider."

"Harry!" I almost yelled. "I'm not spending my evening with that git just to confirm what we already know, Malfoy doesn't have anything to do with You-Know-Who. Besides, he would drop me the minute we'd get there and start kissing Slughorn's ass."

Harry glared at me.

"We've been through this, Jay." Harry said. "Malfoy replaced his father-"

"He's sixteen!"

"A year away from being of age!"

"Still too young to even be considered for any kind of missions by anyone."

"We can't be sure. That's why we need to make sure."

"Well then go to Slughorn's party with him yourself if you absolutely want to know every single detail of his life."

I stood up and stormed of towards my dormitory, where I found Hermione, still dressed sitting on her bed, her nose buried in our transfiguration textbook. She looked up when I slumped onto my bed.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

"Harry wants me to go to Slughorn's party with Malfoy." I said.

"As if Malfoy would even consider doing that."

I glared at her for a moment.

"I have a bet going on with Blaise and Malfoy. If Slytherin wins tomorrow, I have to go with Malfoy."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at me.

"And now Harry wants to sabotage the game tomorrow, so Slytherin wins."

Hermione slammed her book shut and stood up.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to talk some sense into him." She said casually and left room.

I sighed and laid back down onto my bed.

ooOoo

I refused to go to the game next morning. I refused to come out of my dormitory until the game had started all together as a matter of fact. Harry hadn't talked to me since our fight and I hadn't seen Hermione nor Ron over dinner the night before, as I'd spent it with Blaise at the Slytherin table. I just hoped Hermione had been successful in her attempt to talk some sense into Harry. I wasn't scared of Malfoy, but the prospect of spending an entire evening in his company still sent shivers down my spine. He would spend most of it giving me a hard time and sticking his head up Slughorn's butt as often as he could.

I made my way down to the library, shortly after hearing the whistle blow announcing the start of the match, with the intention of getting a head start on next weeks potions essay. The halls were deserted except for a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who didn't seem too interested in Quidditch. I set my stuff down on a table at the far end of the library and strode of towards the rows of potions books, just as a certain blond Slytherin appeared from behind a bookshelf.

"Speak of the devil." I muttered under my breath.

He hadn't noticed me, his nose being buried in a book he was reading while walking towards a table not too far away from mine. He seemed in perfectly good health and I started wondering what his excuse for not playing in todays match could be, considering Harry's excessive concern on the subject.

I grabbed a few books on healing potions and strode back to my table, making a slight detour around Malfoy's. He was luckily so engrossed in his reading material that he didn't notice me sending a curious look over his shoulder at the dozens of books on his table.

Charms.

Malfoy was reading and takin notes of what seemed to be every single book on advanced charms that this library contained. I frowned and sat down at my own table, occasionally sending curious looks over to Malfoy. I checked my notes on our charms homework for the next week, there was none apart from reading the chapter on non-verbal spells in our textbook.

Well that was one information that might peak Harry's interest.

I left the library as soon as I heard cheering coming from the halls. Malfoy apparently hadn't noticed as he hadn't budged upon hearing the sudden noise. As a matter of fact he hadn't moved one inch since he'd sat down.

I was greeted by a loud chant of "Weasley is our King!" and cheering students in red and gold, immediately easing the concern I'd had about Harry. I let myself be guided through the corridors by the crowd, headed towards the Gryffindor common room. I was planning on joining them in their celebrations, surely finding Harry among them, but my plans quickly changed as I saw an excessively red-faced Hermione storm into an unlocked classroom, away from the crowd of students. She forcefully shut the door behind her just as I wanted to enter and I swiftly knocked on it before poking my head inside.

Hermione was shaking her hands at her sides, wand in the right while taking deep breaths. I fully entered the room as she hadn't noticed me.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She stopped her movements and turned around, nodding upon seeing me.

"I'm fine." She said in a brittle voice, sitting down on of the desks.

"Are you sure? You don't really seem like it."

"Have you seen Ron?" She asked.

I sat down on the desk opposite her, placing my hands in my lap as Hermione proceeded to do some wand work.

"Well." She said, conjuring up a little yellow bird. "He's currently snogging Lavender." She conjured up another yellow bird.

"Way to celebrate." I tried lightening up the mood while watching a third bird leaving Hermione's wand.

Hermione gave a shaky laugh.

"I guess so." Was all she said, now at her fourth bird. "He definitely seems to be enjoying the celebrations.

I sat there, watching Hermione's fifth bird zoom around her head and pressed my lips together. I didn't quite know what to say. The only other heart breaks I had ever had to deal with were Debbie's, and she was better left alone in those times. I wasn't exactly an expert on the subject.

"Lavender, huh?" Was the only thing I could think of saying.

"She jumped on him as soon as he touched the ground when the match ended." Hermione explained. "He didn't seem to mind. Why would she do that anyway? She's never shown any kind of interest in him. And now suddenly, when he's famous for fighting of Death Eaters and has some battle scars, she's at his feet. She used to mock him for being ginger over the last few years! And she's so – so superficial! I can't even believe Ron would pursue anyone who's as – asattention seeking a – and silly one-dimensional as her!"

I couldn't do much more than listen to Hermione's rant, not that I had anything to say about it anyway. Hermione was now positively trembling out of fury, her birds aggressively zooming around the room and her eyes starting to grow puffy and red from the tears that had been falling down her cheeks now.

"I thought he'd have the slightest amount of taste but no – he has to go for the first daft bimbo that jumps at him! She doesn't even have the slightest talent for anything, really! Have you seen her latest scores! A T in transfiguration – in NEWT-level Transfiguration! I don't understand how anyone could be so amazingly dumb, honestly. Then again, that would explain why she would through herself at someone like Ron, she could never possibly provide for herself."

My eyes widened a bit at her fury, but still, the only thing I could think about was-

"Slag."

"Hermione?"

The door opened just a crack and Harry's head poked through it.

"Oh, hello Harry." Hermione said wiping at her eyes. "We were just practicing." She pointed at the few birds still zooming around our heads.

"Everything alright in here?" He asked, now fully entering the room and closing the door behind him, looking a bit taken aback by Hermione's state.

Hermione, however, didn't get a chance to answer his question as, just then, the door to the classroom opened again and the two culprits stepped in, although Lavender left almost immediately, oblivious to the tense atmosphere that followed. Ron's eyes wandered from Harry to me and finally settled on Hermione's distressed form. She glared at him with a force that made both Harry and me flinch a bit before waving her wand and sending the birds after Ron who almost immediately fled the scene, followed by a crying Hermione.

"The next few weeks might get a bit awkward." Harry said, once the door had closed again.

I nodded and stood up from the desk, making my way to the door. Still feeling a bit uncomfortable in Harry's presence after our fight.

"Sorry for yesterday." Harry said quietly.

"It's ok." I said. "Thanks for winning the game.

Harry gave a weak laugh.

"I wasn't going to throw you into a snake pit."

I grinned, suddenly remembering my encounter with Malfoy.

"I saw Malfoy today." I said.

"Where?" Harry asked, leaning against the desk I'd just been sitting on and I closed the classroom door again.

"He was in the library. Taking notes out of advanced charms books. I don't know on what exactly." I said upon seeing Harry's quizzical look. "He spent at least the entire match there, and he got there before me and was still sitting in his place when I left."

"Do we have any charms homework for next week?"

I shook my head.

"All we have to do is read the chapter on non-verbal spells and you don't need notes out of other books for that."

Harry looked at the floor, seemingly lost in thought.

"What would you need charms for?"

"I don't know." I said. "But whatever he's doing – if he's doing anything." I added when Harry looked at me with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "He's not doing it in the open. He's taking notes so he doesn't have to take too many books out of the library and he's doing it while the castle is empty so he won't raise any suspicion. Or he's just very interested in charms."

"I don't think so." Harry said and I rolled my eyes. "Malfoy's never been exceptionally talented in charms as far as I know."

I sighed.

"Well, I can't find that out for you, sorry."

Harry smiled weakly.

"Should've lost that game, shouldn't I?"

"Ugh." I made and went for the door again. "If you'll excuse me, I have to find Blaise and tell him what colour his tie should be." I sent him a smile over my shoulder and left the classroom.

ooOoo

I gleefully put my books down on the breakfast table and let myself slump onto the chair next to Blaise, sending Hermione a furtive look, to make sure she wasn't crying again and I wasn't intruding on anything.

"Burst out your joy." Blaise told me casually. "Her porridge isn't as salty as yesterday."

I shot him a nasty look, as Hermione looked stabbed her eggs with her fork.

"Way to cheer people up, Blaise."

"I've been known to spread joy everywhere I set foot, you should know that by now."

I sent a peace of my toast flying towards him, which hit his nose, actually earning myself a faint giggle from Hermione. Good, we were making progress. Although she played brave in front of Harry and Ron (whom she ignored most of the time anyway) Blaise and I had seen her in a much worse state over the last couple of days.

"Now tell me." Blaise said. "What's making you so happy? Finally got to snog Potter?"

I looked at him with wide eyes before remembering that he had no clue what he'd just suggested, before slapping a hand to my mouth in a futile attempt to stifle the laugh escaping it.

"Sure thing, Blaise." I said with a bright smile. "I'll snog Harry, the day you confess your love to Bullstrode."

Blaise made a face at me.

"I just got a letter from Debbie." I said with a grin. "Madam Fox approved my request to stay at Salem over christmas instead of my mom's place."

"So she basically approved to get the house wrecked?" Blaise said, making Hermione laugh once more.

"We're not that bad anymore." I said.

" 'Anymore' " Blaise repeated to Hermione, his eyebrows raised. "Believe me, you don't want to see those two together."

"But I'd love to meet Debbie one day, Blaise." Hermione said smiling.

"We'll spend a week together her mother's place in London over the summer, you could visit!" I said. "By the way Blaise, do you think I could stay with you for the first night of the holidays? My flight's only on the 21st."

"Sure, I'll ask mother." He said.

"'Mione?" I asked, chewing on my bacon.

Hermione warily looked up at me.

"Are you coming to Slughorn's christmas part tonight?" I avoided the gaze, knowing it was a touchy subject.

"I found myself a date week ago." She said matter-of-factly.

"And you didn't tell me?" I asked, feigning chagrin.

"It's McLaggen." She said, more to her breakfast than to us.

Blaise snorted into his pumpkin juice.

"Come again?" I said, hoping I'd heard wrong.

"Who told you that was a good idea, Granger?" Blaise asked amused.

"No one." Hermione said, looking up with dignity. "He asked me and I said yes."

"Why?" I asked.

"He was my only option."

"Honestly Hermione. You could've asked anyone and they would've said yes."

"You could still go with Malfoy." Blaise said.

I slapped his arm.

"He'll annoy Ron the most."

Blaise now positively boomed with laughter and Hermione's face turned a bright red. I shot daggers at him before turning to Hermione.

"Well... Have fun!" I said. "I'm betting you're date's going to be more bearable than mine."

That shut Blaise up.

I spent most of my day packing my trunk with Hermione. It was saturday so we had the day off anyway and we would both be leaving for London the following day. We spent the last few hours before Slughorn's party up in our dormitory, discussing christmas and thoroughly avoiding the subject of McLaggen before getting ourselves ready for the evening. We both met our "dates" at 8 o'clock in the entrance hall. McLaggen had his everlasting arrogant look on his face and Blaise was hiding laughs behind his hand as he shot amused glances at him. I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling and made my way over to Blaise, wishing Hermione good luck.

Slughorn's office had been magically enhanced, enabling it to host about a hundred people that were currently bustling around in groups, most of them were former students. Famous former students, some even I knew. In a matter of minutes Slughorn had introduced us to Libatius Borage, a fragile looking old potioneer. Blaise abandoned the conversation soon after to go and talk to Gwenog Jones, captain of some Quidditch team I didn't know. I spent the evening in Borage's company until I saw Snape drag Malfoy out of the room.

"Would you excuse me for a moment, Sir?" My eyes were scanning the crowd. I couldn't make out Harry anywhere and so decided to go after the two myself.

I didn't wait for Borage's "of course, my dear" before I left the party, keeping a safe distance between the duo and myself. I took of my shoes to avoid having my heals make any noise and rushed after them. They vanished in an empty classroom, a few corridors away from the party and I hurried over to the door, quietly pressing my ear against it.

"The Bell girl wasn't your intended target, Draco!" I heard Professor Snape said and frowned.

"You can't avoid a bit of collateral damage." Malfoy sounded smug.

"Don't be foolish. Sooner or later you'll raise suspicions with your silly half-hearted attempts-"

"It isn't any of your business!" Malfoy bursted out.

"I was assigned to help you, Draco."

"I don't need your help. The Dark Lord assigned me to kill him. By myself. Without your help, Snape."

I almost jumped as something touched my leg. I looked down, careful not to make any noise and Harry's head appeared next to me knee. He moved to me to leave and I nodded, watching as his head vanished under his invisibility cloak. There was no need for me to eavesdrop on the two out in the open if Harry could do so hidden under his cloak.

I walked away, back towards the party wondering about Malfoy's words. So Harry had been right. Malfoy had been assigned a mission by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The Dark Lord. And that mission was to kill – kill someone in this castle. Possibly Harry?

I stopped in a niche when I heard footsteps behind me. A moment later Snape strode past my hiding spot and I took a deep breath. This man was in on it. I closed my eyes before I dared step out of the niche just to be grabbed by the wrist and pulled back inside. A moment later I had the tip of a wand pointed between my eyes. I could feel my heart hammering against my chest.

"How much did you hear?"

It was Malfoy. Of course it was Malfoy! The dungeons were in that direction, as well, I could have thought about having him walk by as well.

"Nothing." I said in a high pitched voice.

He let go of my wrist only to grab my chin and pushing me up against the wall, pressing his palm unpleasantly against my throat.

"Don't lie to me." He said menacingly.

I was clawing at his wrist standing on my tiptoes, willing him to let go of me.

"I swear Malfoy, I didn't hear anything!"

I was sure he could feel my pulse under his fingers, my heart hammering away at a painful speed.

"Then what were you doing in that corridor?"

"I was on my way to the bathroom!" I blurted out the first excuse that came to my mind.

"As if." Malfoy gnarled. "The bathroom's the other way, Carter!"

"Malfoy, get off me!" I said a bit panicky and tried to push him away, to pull his had off my throat.

"Forget it. What did you hear?!"

"Nothing!"

I was shamefully aware of the few tears that managed to slip through my eyelashes as he slammed me into the wall behind me, the back of my head throbbing painfully.

"Malfoy, you're hurting me!"

"I don't give a fuck." Malfoy said threateningly low. "Whatever it is you heard me and Snape say, Carter. You better forget it quickly." He slammed my head into the wall once more and I winced. "Is that clear? Because if any of it comes out, Carter, you're first on my list of suspects. And do you know what that means?" All I could do was whimper. "You're dead."