A/N— So this chapter was supposed to have everyone talk about their Bogarts, but that will be next chapter. I'm sorry for posting so late, my stories will never be abandoned. And I love you all for supporting me.
And to my French readers, à mes amis français, mon coeur est avec vous.
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Chapter 7
L'appel du vide
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Draco jerked awake; a dagger of fear imbedded in his belly. His breathing was rapid, his heart bounding, and a thin layer of cold sweat broke out over his brow.
He ran a pale hand through his fringe and quickly glanced around. His body relaxed when he saw that he was still inside the…. whatever pillow fortress Granger had requested of the room.
Everyone was still sleeping, a sight that unnerved Draco to his core. At the moment, he was staring at the Hermione Granger, who was looking entirely too vulnerable for his liking.
More vulnerable than he thought she had the right to.
For a moment he studied her.
Her full pink mouth was slightly opened, her face relaxed and vacant of worry. Granger tended to wear a frown or chew her lower lip, especially when reading or thinking…which was almost all the time. Draco hated her long soft curls that spilled over her shoulders. He hated the way her chest slowly rose and fell with every breath she took. He hated her small slender hands and the pearl pink nail polish that coated her nails. He hated the curve of her body.
So human…
He hated her existence, because she was living proof that everything, he had ever been taught was wrong. It infuriated him because he had no valid argument against her blood. Draco knew this. He knew it and still he stood by his ideology.
Without it, he knew his world would fall apart.
And that was why he truly hated Hermione Granger.
She almost looked human in that moment, instead of something lesser than a blot to Wizarding kind. He hated her for looking so human.
The events of the morning flooded his mind, and Draco clenched his wand tighter. He saw his father's contemptuous expression. He saw his mother sad eyes…and he saw his own inadequacy.
And when Granger wrapped her arms around him, he felt as if she had caught him from a great fall.
Why did Granger do it? How could she do it? Why did she continue helping when all he ever did was spit venom back into her face? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. His own actions that defying the Dark Lord said enough… He was changing.
And that terrified Draco to his core.
Even now, as Draco stared at Granger, he felt BOTH the need to hold her tight, and stomp on her peaceful face until it collapsed in on itself. The need to shatter her was so great that angry tears began prickling at the corners of his eyes.
As the tears threatened to fall Granger opened her hazel eyes.
Her hazel eyes widened at Draco's tearful murderous glower. It shook her when Draco smirked dangerously. Fear flickered behind her eyes….her hazel eyes tinted with yellow and amber.
"Draco—"
"Shut the fuck up." Draco breathed in utter revulsion, silencing her.
To say Hermione was shocked was an understatement, but her fear soon morphed into one of fearless defiance. She looked as exhausted as he felt. Her clothes unkept and rumpled, like his. Her large hazel eyes, soft and opaque as she stared fearlessly at him.
"No." Hermione glared back at Draco "And you will stop behaving like a fool. I'm sick of you."
Her words were low, steady, heated, with little emotion.
"What… did you say?" Draco breathed, his voice shaking
His unnerving smile didn't move Hermione, who sat up and slammed her pillow against the side of Draco's face.
"I said no!" Hermione snapped, causing the others to stir. "I'm not scared of you- you foul little wanker!"
"Wanker!" Draco sat up throwing her pillow back into her face.
"Yes! WANKER!" Hermione shouted louder, as an all-out pillow fight began between Draco and Hermione.
"Wanker- wanker- wanker!" Hermione panted, hitting Draco over the head repeatedly.
"You tell'em Mione." Came the muffled sleepy voice of Ron, who gave Hermione a thumbs up without lifting his head. "Give'da sod Hell."
"Watching me sleep like some kind of pervert!"
"As if anyone would want to get between your dirty snatch, Granger!" Draco ridiculed sharply, raising another pillow over his head and throwing it "Ugly- bucktoothed- frizzy headed—"
A foot connected against Draco's back causing him to fall into a dozen pillows, face first.
"Shut the fuck up, Draco." Theodore Nott grumbled, raising his leg to kick the blonde again "I'm not done cuddling Potter yet."
"Oh yes you are." Harry said thickly, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand "Now get your prick off my arse, Nott."
"Don't act like you don't enjoy it, my little spoon." Theo purred, melting into Harry and pressing his erection harder against the smaller boy.
"I'm not a spoon. I'm a knife." Harry snapped, pulling his bottom away from Theos hard prick.
Hermione flushed a deep shade of red and promptly turned away.
"What are you all, twelve?" Hermione mumbled, dropping her own pillow.
"Yes. On a scale of one to ten. I am a twelve." Draco sneered pompously. "Which is more than I can say for you, Granger."
"Just morning wood. Nothing to be ashamed of, Harry." Nott muttered without feeling, pulling Harry closer "Just enjoy the moment. I know I am. Might need a cigarette after this."
Draco rolled his eyes, seeing Theo's antics enough to become desensitized by it. He often attacked Blaise, Greg, and Draco in such manner, but was usually hexed for his troubles.
"Sick Slytherins." Ron gagged, reaching over to grab Harry's arm and pulling him away from the Slytherin. "C'mon mate, kick him in the bullocks! Mione, get over here and help me!"
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT THE FUCK UP?!" Pansy screeched, rising out of the pillows and blankets that submerged her, like a horrid phantom.
Her usual sleek black bob was now a tangled mess around her neck. Her pristine makeup had all but vanished, leaving lipstick stains smeared across her mouth and left cheek. Her blouse had also gone undone, causing Ron to blush a deep shade of red.
He quickly let go of Harry for a moment before offering his blanket to her, shielding Pansy. At Ron's gesture towards her chest, Pansy glanced down to find her perky breasts had slipped out the top of her bra while she slept.
Pansy squeaked, snatching away Ron's blanket and hid beneath it. Ron smirked as she grumbled into the blanket and pillows.
"You look like a hamster, Parkinson." Ron said without venom, then froze at his insinuation. "I don't mean your boobs look like hamsters- they don't!…Those look fine- I mean. Merlin, forget what I said!—"
"No offense Weasle but—" Pansy breathed in deeply from her blanket nest and began screaming incoherently.
Draco, and Theo covered their ears as Pansy screamed in a tantrum, kicking and spitting profanities from under the blankets. The Slytherins looked as if they had to deal with his on a daily basis, which made Harry, Ron and Hermione scooted back in shock.
"Its going to be a while." Theo shouted over Pansy's tantrum, his hands clamped tightlu over his ears.
"Should've never invited any of you Slytherins into my blanket fort!" Hermione sighed, over Pansy's screams, surrendering her patience.
Harry rushed towards the fort exit as Pansy continued to kick and pound the floor with her fists, like a petulant child. Draco and Theo followed, as if this were something that happened often.
Hermione rushed out as soon as they did, still bewildered by the sight of a teenage girl throwing a tantrum like a 3 year old.
Ron, on the other hand, was having none of it and leapt to his feet, ripping the blankets and pillows off of Pansy. She fought for them back, in an ill-tempered tug-a-war. Ron growled and yanked Pansy up by her upper arm, half carrying – half dragging her out of the fort.
Draco and Theo still had their hands over their ears as Pansy threw herself on the floor and continued to scream bloody murder. She pounded the floor with her fists and kicked her legs back of forth, angrily.
What no one expected was when Ron Weasley lifted Pansy into his arms and trudge across the room to where six squishy armchairs appeared. He sat down heavily, draping the screaming Pansy across his lap.
Everyone held their breath in silence as Ron's hand raised and landed with a resounding SMACK on her bum.
SMACK!
SMACK!
SMACK!
Draco and Theo didn't move but watched in awe as Ron continued to spank the screaming Pansy Parkinson, like a naughty child. Her cantankerous screams turned into sobs, and after the twentieth spank, she stopped kicking.
Harry and Hermione's jaws dropped to the floor in disbelief, but also relief when Pansy's tantrum completely stopped.
Still, Ron continued to spank her bottom. It was super uncomfortable for everyone to watch, but at the same time a great relief. Even Hermione couldn't bring herself to scold Ronald. Harry on the other hand rubbed his own bottom, as if feeling Pansy's pain. Fortunately, Harry remained quiet, but had to turn away.
Then after another minuet of hearing Pansy's quiet sobs, Ron stopped. He pulled down her skirt to cover her red bottom and thighs and gently sat her up on his lap.
"Blow." Ron snapped, pulling an orange Chudly Cannons handkerchief out of his trousers, and held it up to her nose.
Pansy's breath hitched as she looked hatefully at his handkerchief but leaned forward to blow anyway. Snot, tears, and smeared makeup covered her blotchy face, and despite the anger clear on her face, she stayed quietly in his lap.
Ron began to smother circles on her back, and making hushed sounds of comfort to the sniffling girl.
"Draco?" Theo muttered in disbelief, staring at Ron with something akin to awe "I think Weasley is the Pansy Whisperer."
"Morgana's tits, I think I might respect him." Draco sneered at his own admonishment, looking ill "Why the fuck have we never thought of that? Five years of that shit, and Weasley was able to quiet Pans in five minutes!"
"Fuck me." Theo huffed in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Ron shook a finger at Pansy and leaned in so that his face was inches from hers.
"Next time I'll ask the Room for a paddle. And then I'll spank you while you stand with your nose in a corner, Parkinson." Ron threatened, unblinking in his warning "Whenever you feel like screaming- or throwing yourself on the floor, just talk to us… talk to me for fucks sake. You don't like me and I don't have a very high opinion of you, but you can't just scream bloody murder. Use your sharp mean little words- but the world doesn't revolve around you."
"W-why not?" Pansy sniffled threatening hyperventilation, her bottom lip trembling.
Ron's expression softened, and he pulled Pansy to his chest, as she burst into genuine tears.
"W-why not?...Why n-n-not?" Pansy cried, clutching Ron's robes tightly as he stroked her hair and smoothed circles around her back. "Why?"
"You don't need to shit on people to get them to pay attention to you, Parkinson." Ron offered, bouncing her on his knee gently.
"Yes I do."
"No. People don't respond to that. Even slimy Slytherins like Malfoy and Nott don't deserve that shit."
"Yes they do!" Pansy snapped.
"Well…. okay maybe they do." Ron nodded, turning to give the other two Slytherins the finger. "Just don't be the human version of a kidney stone. Capeshe?"
Pansy sniffed, dragging the back of her hand over her nose and nodded.
"Capeshe."
Draco and Theo looked as if Pansy had grown a second head. They didn't even seem fazed at Ron's crude gestures.
"Theo?" Draco nudged Nott in the ribs without looking away.
"I have no idea." Theos shook his head. His light brown hair slipping over his shoulders.
"He's really good friend." Harry smiled proudly at Ron, although still embarrassed about what he had just witnessed.
"Merlin, Potter." Theo's eyes widened and a depraved smirk curled the corners of his mouth "Now I have an image of your naked arse over Weasley's knee, throbbing red. I think I'm in love. Truly."
Draco and Hermione, on the other hand, threw one another looks that clearly read 'How do you put up with them?'.
"Stop being thick." Harry said to Theo, rolling his vibrant green eyes "I really mean it. Ron is great. When I first met him, he sat with me and offered me his sandwich, even though it was all he had. He sacrificed himself for me and Hermione when we were 11, because he thought we were worth saving. A true knight in shining armor. He saved me again the following year from my relatives and gave me food, a room, and his family, even though it was hard with a cramped house. He always seems to be the one to take care of me and Mione, when we're too busy. When we were thirteen, he stood on a broken leg to shield me away from someone we thought was a murderer….and I remember him saying—"
"'You'll have to go through me first'. And he said it with such conviction. He was ready to die for us." Hermione smiled fondly.
Draco's expression darkened further, then just as quickly school into one of stoic disinterest. He turned and walked down the other end of the Room and began to pace.
Despite themselves, the others stared at Ron rocking Pansy against his chest. Everyone knew that Rons 'shit list' included Slytherins, right below: Voldemort, Snape, Homework, and guys kissing his little sister. Yet, there he was…
"Room." Ron asked, looking up "I require a clean outfit for Pansy, and the toiletries and personal items that make her feel good."
Pansy blinked as the Room of Requirement gave her a neat pile of everything that Ron asked for with a 'POP!'.
"Go take a hot shower and try some breathing exercises." Ron said pulling the Slytherin girl to her feet "I get angry a lot too. Sometimes it helps."
"I still hate your guts, Weasley." Pansy snapped.
"And your head looks like you just participated in a gang bang." Ron smirked, pitching Pansy's chin playfully. "Hamster gang bang."
Pansy snorted as she hopped off Ron's lap and marched towards the bathroom, avoiding everyone's eyes. The door slammed, but Ron didn't look concerned. In fact, he looked amused.
"So….are we just going to forget about this morning, or what?" Theo asked, leaning casually against the window. There was still a storm outside, but it had quieted to a quiet rain. The sky wasn't as black as it had been that morning, but it was still a bleak grey color.
Draco stopped pacing and spun around, throwing Nott a filthy look that promised retribution.
"Yes. Yes we are, because I'll be damned if we're all going to sit in a circle and talk about our feelings!" Draco scoffed as if he didn't know the meaning of such a word, folding his arms over his chest. "We are not authorizing a unnecessary display of….of…"
"Emotions?" Harry offered with a snort over his shoulder as he walked towards Ron. "God forbid we have those!"
"Po—I swear to Merlin!" Draco hiss through his clenched jaw, following Harry towards the purple armchairs "If the Room offers us another game', I'm requesting pin the nails on the Jesus. Just to spite you, Potter!"
"I'm actually impressed that you know Jesus is related to muggle Christianity." Harry nodded, impressed, then pulled out his wand threateningly "Also, do not take the Lords name in vain, you barbie bleached skank."
"What the fu—"
Hermione shifted her weight from one foot to the other, then took a deep breath.
"I think we should." Hermione said against her better judgement "Its what the Room wants. For us to get to know each other better."
"Uh…Pin the nails on Jesus?" Harry asked, confused.
"You're an idiot, Potter." Draco sighed, looking at Harry as if he were a lost cause.
Theo nodded from his place at the window seal "Stupid for sure. But cute."
"I mean," Hermione emphasized "That we have a talk… about the Bogarts."
"I would rather strip naked, and let Weasle spank me, than do any of that." Draco shook his head resolutely "I mean it."
"No, you don't." Theo sighed regretfully, tapping his temple "but that image is going into my wank bank."
"Sick." Ron gagged for the second time today. "I swear if I have to listen to anymore of—"
However, whatever Ron was about to say was cut off by a shrill scream. Pansy barged out of the bathroom in what appeared to be comfortable looking pink sweats with a pink sports bra and a soft sweater that had the words—
'I admire the beta fish. Because I too am beautiful and want to fight everyone.'
On her feet were white, comfortable looking socks with white lace around the ankles.
"What the Hell is this, Weasley!?" Pansy snapped, pinching the edge of her slouchy pink sweater.
"Uh. Clothes?" Ron shrugged "Did you practice the breathing?"
"These are NOT my clothes! As if I would ever wear something so….so plebian! I've never own such…what even is this?!"
Ron smiled, covering his mouth with his hand "Sweats to laze around in. Comfy huh? Harry introduced me to them in second year. And not to sound like my father, but Muggles are fucking geniuses!"
Pansy's mouth gaped open and close like a fish. Draco and Theo stared at her garb in horror.
"I'm….I'm wearing MUGGLE CLOTHES!?" Pansy shrieked.
Ron gave her a warning look that made Pansy bite her lip.
"ROOM! I require decent clothes!" Draco shouted suspiciously in a panic. "Wizarding robes!"
He gasped as a pile of soft black sweats appeared on his lap. The sweats looked as soft as rabbit fur, but Draco was having none of it and promptly threw them across the room.
"I require MY own clothes- from my trunk!" Draco commanded, but there came nothing, until the room launched his discarded clothes back at him.
The sweats landed on his face, and every time he tried to throw them, they would always come hurling back, clinging to his face, like an octopus.
"GET OFF!" Draco's muffled voice cried as he struggled to rip the sweats off his head.
Harry and Ron leaned against one another as they laughed their heads off. Pansy ignored Draco and strode to an armchair next to Ron. No one else noticed, except for Hermione, who raised an eyebrow in her direction.
One by one the Room gave each of them a pair of sweats, socks and undergarments for them to wear.
Finally, seeing this was a battle he would not win, Draco accepted the clothes, but froze when he saw what was written across the sweatshirt.
'Aut viam inteniam aut faciam'
Draco fumed, "Idiotic muggle fashion."
Harry craned his neck to read Draco's shirt.
"Whats it mean?" Harry asked, trying to pronounce the words but failing brilliantly.
"'Aut viam inteniam aut faciam', its Latin for 'Learn fucking Latin, Potter.'." Draco deflected maliciously, seeming to enjoy inventing difficulties.
Hermione rolled her hazel eyes "It translates 'I will either find a way, or I will make one.', its actually quite motivating, given our current situation."
"Wait…Isn't Latin a dying language?" Harry scrunched up his nose. "How am I supposed to know that?"
"Yes, Potter. Its dying. Latin is completely useless. Especially to our kind." Draco said with a straight face, as his breathing hitched "Wonder what we could possibly need it for? Nothing comes to mind... Oh! Wait! I wonder if it might be important for EVERY FUCKING SPELL EVERY CREATED, YOU DUMB PIECE OF—"
"Okay! Okay!" Harry threw his hands up in surrender. "Sorry! Geez, I just had a brain fart, okay?"
"Your brain is a fart, Potter! Merlin, how do you get through life like this? I clearly haven't given Granger enough credit for putting up with you!" Draco seethed, ignoring the bewildered look Hermione had given him for the back handed compliment "What did you think Latin was good for? Summoning demons? You're proficient enough in that area."
"Can't we ever have a normal, civilized conversation?" Harry whined, flopping back into his armchair.
"I won't be lectured on civilization by the likes of you, Potter!"
"I WOnt bE LeCTURed On civILIZATIon by THe lIKes Of yOU!" Harry mocked back, crossing his eyes childishly.
Theo snickered at Harry's antics "Your mother, may she rest in peace, must be so proud of her lazy, rebellious, demon summoning, gay child from atop her cloud in heaven."
"I'd like to think so!" Harry grinned at the Slytherin in solidarity, sitting up and bouncing in his seat "See Malfoy? How hard is it to be nice?"
Ron ignored others and turned back to his orange sweats that read—
'You can't do epic shit with basic people.
Ron laughed in approval. There was also a picture of a Jack Russle Terrier, an Otter, and a Stag on the front, high fiving each other.
Harry broke into a brighter smile when he saw the pictures on Ron's sweatshirt.
"Hey look! Its us!" Harry said, pointing to the stag then cupping his pink cheeks. "Prongs! Soooo freaking CUTE!"
"Right?!" Ron gushed, giving a salute to no one in particular "Thanks Room! I forgive you for trying to kill me!"
Draco gave Hermione a look of pity at what she had to put up with daily. His fingers rubbed circles into his throbbing temples.
Harry and Ron stood to strip, causing the Slytherins to balk and blush. Pansy especially, turned a deep shade of crimson. Even her ears were heating up, as she spared a quick glance at Ron's broad chest and muscular arms.
"Sick." Draco gagged, his eyes widening as Ron threw his dirty school shirt at his face.
Draco wretched again and threw it back.
"Get fucked." Ron challenged as he stripped down to his underwear. "If you don't like it, look away."
Hermione sighed and stood to hold up her cloak, making a barrier between Ron and Harry and the rest of the room as they took off their underwear and socks.
Pansy, was the only one who didn't look away, clearing seeing his outline through the cloak.
Pansy had to admit that puberty was doing good things for the red head.
"Oh for fucks sake!" Draco gagged "Goddamn Gryffindors!"
"What? We see each other every day in the showers and after Quidditch practice in the locker room." Harry shrugged "Its communal, isn't yours?"
"Certainly not!"
Hermione didn't comment, choosing to ignore her best friends until they were properly dressed. However, she did notice Theodore Nott's unwaveringly hard gaze at her friends and frowned.
"Whatever, that just makes us cooler and more confident than Slytherins." Harry boasted.
"We're so cool." Ron panted, ruffling Harry's black hair, causing Theo's blue eyes to narrow between the two.
They were now down to their underwear and proceeded to walk behind their armchairs to slip on a fresh pair. Theo was still incensed at Ron, but stilled when he was the scars littering Potter's body. He might have taken the time to fawn over the pretty boy, but a cold calculation at the state of Potter's body turned all thoughts to ice.
"The coolest." Harry agreed with a snort, pulling on the rest of his clothes to hide his scars, unbothered "Can't understand why Professor Snape doesn't like me."
"Yes. A real mystery there." Pansy muttered; her eyes covered behind her hands
"I've underestimated how much patience Granger possesses. I really have. She's a goddamn saint." Draco pinching the space between his eyes, which he had averted, unlike Theodore. "I think my eyes are bleeding."
Nott was still glaring at Ron with open dislike, all playfulness from before gone. A dangerous atmosphere surrounded him, making the ends of his wavy ash blond hair to crackle. His blue eyes had turned ice, now staring at Harry.
Ron, didn't notice and leaned over to see what Harry's sweat shirt read as Malfoy still appeared visibly horrified at how they had shamelessly stripped naked in front of everyone without a second thought.
Harry's green sweats had a holographic sheen to them and read
'Me? Crazy? I should get down off my unicorn and slap you!'
"Accurate." Ron nodded, ruffling Harry's black hair.
Hermione glanced down at hers and blushed when she read, 'I read the rules before I break them. Don't fuck with me.', on her red sweat shirt.
Theodore, still looking icily, held his blue sweat shirt up to his chest. It read- '
'I could corrupt you. It would be easy, baby.', and nodded in approval, still not smiling.
"Its not wrong." He noted stoically, standing up to head to the bathroom.
Theo stood and walked towards the bathroom door, slamming it behind him and leaving everyone else in awkward silence.
Harry stared after Theodore Nott and felt something twinge at his heart. He pushed the feeling away as he finished dressing and turned back to the others.
"So. Therapy session, anyone?"
This time Draco didn't bother glaring.
"With a side of a bleach cocktail, thank you." Draco sighed, falling back into his armchair "Fuck it. Why not? Let's talk about our fee…'feelings'. L'appel du vide, bitches."
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A/N— L'appel du vide "call to the void". For example it's that feeling you get when you stand on a cliff and feel the urge to leap off it.
I love you all. I will keep writing, so please stay with me…. please 3
