Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or ideas which you recognise as being from JK Rowling's Harry Potter series. The plot of this story is my own, but I have no intention of making any money from it.
Chapter 7
"Bloody hell Hermione! There is no way in hell that you're going on a date with that greasy, no good, Dumbledore murdering bastard!"
She didn't think that Ron could look more angry if he tried.
It was Monday night, and nine of the ten members of the Order's inner circle (Seamus was too far away to come at short notice) were sitting in Harry's basement duelling room. She had called an emergency meeting, by quietly grabbing Susan on her way out of the ball, and telling her to pass the message on.
She snuggled deeper into her leather armchair, legs tucked beneath her. "It's not like I've much of an option! I need to keep him happy to avoid having him tell the Ice-cream Eaters my identity. I don't really want to move and change my backstory again at the moment, not when I'm in such prime position for the election! It would be a waste of ten years' work! Also, you never know, this could get me information in the long run."
"Long run? You want to go on lots of dates with Snape? Are you mad?"
Oops. That had clearly been the wrong thing to say.
Susan sat up straighter. "Though I understand what you're saying about it potentially being useful," Ron snorted. She ignored him and continued. "What if he's already ratted you out to the Ice-cream Eaters? What if this is all a trap to get the Muggleborn? Even if he doesn't know who you really are, it could just be that he didn't want to cause a scene yesterday by kidnapping you in a roomful of Muggles he was trying to impress."
Hermione looked thoughtful. "It's a possibility, I suppose. But... I don't know, he seemed sincere enough."
Ron snorted again. Honestly, he was sounding more pig-like by the second. "Yeah, sincere. This is the GUY WHO KILLED DUMBLEDORE."
Hermione rounded on him. "Don't think I don't know that, Ronald Billius Weasley! Don't think that I haven't lost as much as you because of his actions. But if there's a chance that I can protect my position and help the cause by dating him, don't think that I won't do it."
There was a silence. Harry, heretofore silent and considering, spoke up. "It seems to me that we need more background information. Draco, you know your godfather best."
Draco looked thoughtful. "Well, I am surprised. I heard Severus and my father talking yesterday about a beautiful muggle MP. Father was talking about seducing her, but Severus put on his cold voice and said that she belonged to him and was not to be touched. Father laughed at him, and told him to have his fun. From what you've said, I'm guessing that the 'beautiful muggle woman' is Granger. But that does mean that he appears to be sincere about keeping your secret – they were definitely talking about a muggle, not a Mud- erm, Muggleborn. You appear to have caught his eye, Granger."
Harry looked from one to the other. "Okay, I think that settles it. From Draco's information, Snape appears to genuinely like Hermione." He scrunched his nose in distaste. Hermione hoped that that was at the thought of Snape, rather than at the thought of liking her in general, though given Harry's proclivities it didn't really matter either way. "But you can never be too careful, so Hermione, tomorrow you will wear something with a locator charm and a portkey, and at the first sign of danger you get out of there, even if they've put up anti-apparition wards. Agreed?"
Ron looked very unhappy, but the others appeared to grudgingly see the sense in the idea. Hermione nodded. "What should I carry?"
"How about a necklace?" asked Hannah Abbott. "That would be innocuous enough if he noticed it – say it was a gift from your parents or something."
"Okay, I'll do the charms when I get home." Hermione nodded. "Now that that's agreed... I don't think I had much else to say. The emergency meeting was basically to deal with that, really."
Harry stood up, his knees cracking. "Since we're all here anyway, who fancies making up for the fighting practice we missed yesterday? I need the exercise."
Hermione snorted. "You're a professional athlete, and you're saying you need the exercise?"
He grinned at her. "Well, it's a different type of exercise."
Shaking her head, she accepted the hand up he offered. "Anyone else?"
There was a series of sighs that they'd be doing so much exertion so late at night, but they all agreed.
"Now," said Harry to Draco, who was looking interested, having never seen a training session before. "You know how you said last month when we were discussing the plan that nothing I did would ever impress you?"
Draco raised an eyebrow with a smirk, looking strangely reminiscent of his godfather. "I may have said something to that effect."
Harry smirked back. "Try this."
With a grin, he tapped a certain stone on the wall, and whispered something, too quietly to be heard. The wall melted away, and an archway appeared in its stead, in a manner very similar to Diagon Alley. Harry stepped back, and gave a mock bow, motioning Draco to precede him.
Stepping forward, Draco let out a tiny gasp which he immediately tried to muffle. But he was not fast enough for Harry, who whispered in his ear, "I told you so."
The room was... not a room. If he hadn't known better, Draco would have sworn that they were in the centre of some busy city. Crowds of people swarmed past him, none of them appearing to take much notice of him, or the others who had followed him in. Tall buildings, taller than he had ever seen, and very thin, reached up to the sky. They had writing on them, but it was in a strange script that he couldn't read.
"Well, we can't have portkeyed or apparated anywhere because a) the ministry would be tracking it, and b) I'd have felt it, and c) I highly doubt that a Muggle's house would have a portal in the cellar, so logically we're still in the room," he said aloud. "And this, Harry, is just an illusion, which makes it far less impressive."
Harry grinned again. "Liar."
"Where is this anyway?"
"Tokyo, Japan." He hadn't noticed that Granger had come up behind him. She was still wearing those awful Muggle trousers... Joans?... and a red jumper. Honestly, a woman in trousers! He sniggered mentally. It's... almost obscene. That didn't stop him from admiring the view, however. He saw what his godfather had been on about with the "beautiful", but honestly, who could stand being lectured all the time? That was the one benefit of pretending to date Harry, at least he didn't talk incessantly, and generally had something of interest to say when he did. Not that Draco was ever going to tell him that of course. Still, at least it had meant that his father's party hadn't been completely terrible – it turned out that rating the attractiveness of approaching witches and wizards was a game they both enjoyed.
Granger appeared to be still talking, so he tuned back in. "...and then Harry said he liked the skyline when he went, so it was just a matter of using the charms we learned to build up the image. The people aren't quite right, though, mainly Caucasian as opposed to Japanese... but that's because they choose the faces randomly from a pensieve of our memories, and for better or worse, most of those are in England."
"So the location was your choice, Harry?" Draco turned with a smirk. "All those tall, thin buildings. Almost... phallic." His voice lowered for the last word. Over the past two years, working together to develop a plan to destroy Voldemort, they had built up quite amusing banter, and flirting with one another had become a game, at which both of them had become very adept. Neither ever went further than teasing, though. It came in handy for the deception now, of course. Draco pitched his voice so that it was a stage whisper – ostensibly only for Harry, but loud enough to carry to the others. "Are you compensating for something?"
Harry smiled mock-innocently. "Wouldn't you like to know, Draco darling."
Apparently remembering that there was more to do this evening than flirt with his pretend-boyfriend, Harry turned to the others. They were looking at him with a mixture of shock (Weasley and Longbottom), amusement (MacMillan and Bones), and resignation (Abbott, Creevy). Granger had narrowed her eyes at them slightly, as though trying to figure out the exact dynamic of their relationship. Good luck with that, thought Draco, since I don't even know myself! He gave her his sweetest innocent-smile.
"Right then," Harry was back to business, "shall we do two teams?"
"Actually," said Bones, "can we play together against the illusion, today? We're all a bit rusty on that, haven't done it for a while. Besides, it'd be easier for Malfoy to understand how it works."
Choosing to take this as an attempt to help rather than a slur on his intelligence, Draco gave her nothing more menacing than a Malfoy sneer. There would always be time to hex later, but at the moment he needed to get them on side. He already had Harry, but he sensed that the others still distrusted him, which would not be helpful when they all had to work together to defeat Voldemort.
"I'll do the settings," said Granger. She closed her eyes, and waved her wand in a series of brandishing movements, left and right and up and down. There was a flash of purple light which enveloped the room for a moment, and then Draco had to control himself not to flinch when he suddenly found himself surrounded by Death Eaters. Most were wearing masks, but some were clearly recognisable – Severus and his father were clearly among them.
Weasley was eyeing up Snape. "Can we have some target practice before we start, Harry?"
Harry smiled. "Wait til after, Ron – use the aggression against them in the game. I think we'll start from in that shop, there."
They all crowded into a tiny shop. Now, Draco could see the limitations of the illusion – the shop was completely bare of produce, though a wizened little old man sat behind a polished wood counter.
"Right, Draco. When I give the word, the game will begin. The Ice-cream Eaters will begin to attack, both us and the Muggles on the street. Our job is to fight our way out, find Flobberworm, and kill him. The game ends when either we're all dead or Flobbers is." Noting Draco's slight look of alarm, he quickly added. "Of course, the Ice-cream Eaters can't actually kill us – I'm not that dim, thank you very much. They shoot stunners, and the illusion is programmed to end when it senses everyone in the room is unconscious. The stunners are timed to wear off after ten minutes, though if you wake up and the game is still going on, don't join back in because we want to mimic real conditions as far as possible – if you're dead, you're dead. Instead, if you say Harry Potter is amazing and the love of my life, you'll be transported to a viewing area from above. Make sure to shout, though, so the room can hear you. Once you're there, the room will count you as unconscious."
Draco snorted. "Harry Potter is amazing and the love of my life?"
Harry fluttered his eyelashes. "Why thank you Draco."
Abbott spoke up. "Actually, the password is antidisestablishmentarianism, but the rest of what he said is true."
Harry pouted. "My way would have been funnier – imagine Draco standing in the middle of a street shouting about how I'm the love of his life!"
Weasley looked slightly green at the prospect, so Draco decided that the only possible response under the circumstances was making everyone look even greener, and simultaneously getting revenge on Potter. He turned to Harry, and, for the very first time, kissed him full on the lips, making sure to grope as ostentatiously as possible as he did so. It was surprisingly enjoyable, and he felt a touch of regret when he broke away and said in his highest-pitched voice: "Oh, Harry, darling, you know that I'm secretly madly in love with you and I want to run away and have lots of little blonde babies?"
The look on Harry's face was priceless, so Draco lost control completely, doubling up with laughter.
"Ahem." Granger looked mildly irritated. "If you two have quite finished... whatever it is that you're doing..."
Draco wiped his eyes. He was gratified to note that Weasley and Longbottom both looked shocked, and even MacMillan appeared to have lost some of his usual poise. He noted that Abbot was hiding a small smile, as though she felt that Harry deserved it for what he had said before. Bones had her eyebrows raised.
As Granger spoke the incantation to begin the challenge, he felt, rather than heard, a whisper in his ear. "I'll get you for that later, Malfoy."
He didn't need to turn his head in order to reply. "I'm looking forward to seeing you try, Potter."
Then, the game began.
