Chapter
7 – Trouble
"So." The Headmaster's
voice was stern, yet his eyes had their normal twinkle in them. "So."
The four people with him
in the room squirmed; two went red as well.
"I suppose this calls for
a detention, but it wouldn't set a very good example to have a teacher and
parent sit a detention now, would it?"
Harry reddened
noticeably. "No, Professor. I – We're terribly sorry."
"Don't speak for me,
Potter," Draco snarled viciously.
"Oh, shut up, Malfoy.
Hard to believe some people can be such gits after so long."
"Yeah, I was thinking the
same thing… perhaps you should get some help Potter." The two men growled at
each other and lunged.
"Dad!" Em and Adam
muttered angrily together. They glanced at each other, then both burst out
laughing.
Professor Dumbledore
smiled amusedly too. "You were saying something about sorry?"
"Oh, this is such a
laugh!" Em gasped. "My first time in the Headmaster's office and it's because
of a fight... that my dad was in!" She started howling, and choked. Draco
reached over and patted her back.
"Seriously, Dad. That is
just the stupidest thing," Em continued after her choking subsided.
"So you're better about
the... your mother..." She quickly sobered up.
"I guess. I still don't
really understand why... but I guess I never will, huh? But you still should have
told me, Dad. Did you think I was weak? That I can't stand the truth? Bloody
hell, Dad, that's dumb!"
"Language, Em," Draco
said pointedly, in full Fatherly-Draco mode. "We both agreed not to tell you.
Exactly what did she tell you anyway?"
"A lot."
"That was very helpful.
But if you want to talk... Professor Dumbledore has offered to let me stay
here, talk things out. Do you want me to?"
Em looked at him. He
looked back. She smiled, jumped up from her seat and hugged him. "Yeah Dad. But
don't you have some Ministry thing to do?"
"They can wait," Draco
looked down at his daughter. It was good to see her happy again. Making a
couple of days in the same place with Potter almost worth it. Bloody
hell, he certainly had his priorities all screwed up. He shouldn't even be
thinking that. But no one knew quite how much he loathed Potter. He didn't say
that out loud though. No. Because he loved Em.
"You two–Em and Adam–can
go now," Professor Dumbledore smiled kindly at them. "Harry, Draco, if I could
have a word?"
~*~*~*~*~
15 minutes ago...
"Em!" Draco Malfoy rushed through the door. "Why did
you do that? I was looking all over for you, until one of the portraits told me
they saw you heading here. Oh..." His worried babble trailed off when he saw
her tear-streaked face. "I'm sorry." He hastened to her side and attempted
hugging her. But she pushed him away.
"Don't. Just don't. So all that stuff is true? The
entire You-Know-Who's side thing. And all of grandfather's friends, they were
ex-Death Eaters?"
"Em, don't-"
She ignored him, her voice steadily rising. "What about
you? Mum said you aren't, but with all the lies you've fed me, I'm not sure
what's the truth anymore. So are you?"
"No! Em, you have to believe me. We never lied to you.
We just... didn't tell you some things."
"And that's not the same how?"
"Look, maybe we were wrong to do that. And I'm sorry. But
believe me, I had nothing to do with your mother's disappearance. That was her
choice. I swear, I didn't know." Draco looked at her anxiously, waiting for her
reaction.
Em just looked at him.
Her mind was in a jumble. She had no idea what was happening anymore. Maybe it
was a dream. Maybe this whole thing was just a dream, a dream. "Please Em." She
looked at her father's outstretched arms. Giving in to her feelings of wanting
to be held she went into his embrace. "It's all right."
Someone's cautious voice
broke into her stream of endless thoughts. "Uh... how did you get into the
Gryffindor Common Room? I thought you were a Slytherin, so how did you know how
to get here?"
"Yeah, and what about the
password?" It sounded like Adam or his father, but Em wasn't quite sure.
"When I found out you
were here I went back to Professor Dumbledore. He told me the password. And
it's not like I've never been here before."
"So it was you!" Harry
exclaimed. "In Sixth year. I knew it was you guys. Filch gave us a week's
detention for your slimy trick. The whole Pie-whirling hex got us into so much
trouble! We almost lost so many points that we almost didn't get the House
Cup."
"But you won
anyway," Draco drawled sourly. "Like you always won – the House Cup, the
Quidditch Cup, every bloody thing else."
"We didn't always win.
What about the first couple of years? We didn't win at Quidditch," Harry
challenged.
"Only because you
were off saving the whole bloody world. Oh, and if you were thinking about the
whole fifth year fiasco, you let Chang win."
"I did not!" Harry
protested, but without his previous firmness.
"Oh, come on Potter. You were
such a damn hero even then you didn't have the guts to beat a girl."
"She could have fallen
and it was dangerous!"
"See? You won the
Tri-Wizard Tournament too."
Harry paled, "It was a draw."
"Tried to be a hero even then,
didn't you," Draco provoked. "Tried to beat Diggory."
"You slimy git!" Harry
yelled.
Em had been
watching the whole scene with scared fascination, but it wasn't until it
happened did she realize that Professor Potter (If they could call him that –
it didn't sound quite right) had tried to hit her dad and they were now engaged
in a furious fistfight. Had she not been so scared and worried (About the past
occurrences as well as the row that had just happened) it might have been quite
funny. She briefly wondered if they would get in trouble for this before trying
to get them to stop without hurting herself.
She caught a look
on Adam's face and smiled. It was obvious he found this very comical too. At
least she wasn't alone on this. Any of this.
~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I'm so sorry about the age this took to get out.
It was a really annoying chap. to write, I tried to stick to a plan I had but
it didn't really work. I didn't know where this was going so there was a lot of
stopping to wonder stuff. J I
suppose that means there'll be more chapters in the end. Wonder if that's a
good or bad thing... hmmm... Review,
please! It might inspire me to write a little faster (I have time anyway... Yay!)
Thanks to...
Meredith, Sophie W.,
makulit, Seshat,
Syoki,
silver, PigwidgeonChick,
Alistian
Black, Happy Kitty, Ashlee, Alisha,
Bubblez, Em MKS, KITTY, Mialee,
Fallen
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Potter, Bonnie, Sila-chan, SaltineRitz, maidmarian62,
White
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Pheonixx,
The Bumbling Firefly, Shorty, Romilly McAran, MoonShadow,
~*~Naughty
Angel~*~, potionsmaster, GoGoGirl, KE
Heyduk, Liz, hi, Trinity,
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Clearwater, ginny5, Draco's
Ravenclaw, Bryn,
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Angelfirenze, Laurel, Kelsey Searles, Trowa Barton, Kamikaze, H, Emily.
Whew! This took so long that most of you must have forgot you
even reviewed, but better late than never! J Review
please!