OK, guys, so this chapter isn't really that action-packed and all, but it's quite significant. Sorry! I know Chapter Seven was a little bit of a let down after Cruciatus, but there is plenty more action to come in Chapter Nine…like a huge fight scene! Hehe =D

Anyways, enjoy this…This chapter is dedicated to Naila…thanks for being the best "bro" ever :D

Chapter Eight – Weasley's Proposition

It was the night before the Yule Ball.

Every single Slytherin in the common room was talking about it. About who they were going with, what they were going to wear, blah, blah, blah…

I obviously avoided this ordeal. I wasn't going to the Yule Ball for two reasons:

I planned to sneak into Snape's private stores to get the Polyuice Potion ingredients for Bellatrix tomorrow night, while everyone was busy dancing or whatever.

I still had to use crutches to walk. They slowed me down terribly…the whole damn thing would be over by the time I arrived!

No-one noticed me sat there in my own little world…except for one person.

Three guesses who it was.

"What about you, Draco?" Pansy said, interrupting my thoughts.

"What? Hmm?" I looked up to see about ten people looking my way, expecting some sort of answer.

"Never mind…" She muttered, looking away.

I tried to go back to my thoughts about Bellatrix and everything that had happened, but Pansy had got me thinking. Who would I have asked to the Yule Ball if I had the chance?

Astoria.

Whether she said yes or no was something different entirely. I sighed…I shouldn't be wasting time thinking about this, I thought, I should be planning on getting into Snape's personal part of the dungeon. I'd never actually been in that part of the dungeon before, so I didn't actually know how to get there or what it looked like, so I decided to go for a "walk" and check it out.

And it would've gone perfectly well if it wasn't for Ronald Weasley.

"What're you doing down here in the dungeons, Malfoy?"

"I could say the same to you," I narrowed my eyes at him. The Slytherin common room was in the dungeons. He, on the other hand, had no business here.

He scowled. "Snape gave me a detention because my Wit-Sharpening potion turned his toad a funny colour and then it threw up on him."

I tried. I really did try to hold in my laughter.

"What about you, Malfoy? What're you doing here?"

"Fancied a walk, I guess," I answered.

"Oh, and you ended up just down the corridor from Professor Snape's personal storeroom? Good cover, but not good enough. Why are you here?"

"I told you…fancied a stroll round the castle, that's all."

"Course you did…" I didn't know why he was still stood there. "If you're looking to get to Snape's personal storeroom, I know the way in." Ron shrugged.

"Why are you helping me? What's the catch?"

"I'm helping you because, well, if there's one person I hate more than you, it's Snape. And the catch is that you have to be my willing slave for the day," he replied smugly.

I weighed my options carefully, but decided it was worth it. As long as Bellatrix stayed away from us after I gave her what she wanted. "Fine! Just show me."

"Well you'll have to get me into the Slytherin common room first. There's a passage from there into the storeroom but it's really hard to find. But you'll have to make sure nobody sees me because they'll be wondering what the hell I'm doing with you." I nodded. "When everyone goes down to dinner tonight I'll meet you outside the common room, agreed?"

"Agreed."

Wow. I just made an alliance with a Weasley! I was shocked with myself. Absolutely shocked.

But it was worth it…

Ron left after that and I left for the Slytherin common room, relieved that I'd found a way to weasel my way in. I was hopping down the corridor, past Dumbledore's office, where I heard him talking. And someone was crying.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Astoria," Dumbledore said, "is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Oh, no…She'd told Dumbledore about Bellatrix.

"No, sir," she sniffed. "I'll go now, Professor."

She must've ran for the door at lightning speed, because she swung the door open and completely crashed into me.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" I asked. Her face was stained with tears and her eyes were red and puffy.

"It's just Dumbledore, he…he asked me what was wrong and I really didn't want to lie to him, but I knew I had to because you'd get into trouble," she replied, drying her eyes.

"What did you say to him?"

"Well, he asked me what was wrong and I said there was nothing up with me, and then he asked me if I knew what was wrong with you, and I told him I didn't know."

"And then?" I asked gently.

"Nothing, he didn't say anything to me after that."

"Don't lie to me. I'm sure that's not why you've been crying your eyes out. He must've said something else."

"Nothing," she protested again.

"Well if you aren't going to tell me, I'll ask him to."

"No! He…he asked me…"

"What? What did he ask you?" I demanded.

"It doesn't matter, Draco!"

"Tell me. Now! If he's upset you I want to know what he's said."

"Fine!" She said. "He asked me what…what my relationship was with you."

I instantly regretted asking.

Awkwaaaaaarrrddd…

Well, I hadn't seen that one coming.

"Oh," was all I could manage to say. So he'd asked both of us now – trying to weasel information out of her, too. "Astoria, I-"

I didn't know what I was going to say after that, but I was saved as the deafeningly loud bell for dinner rang. Thank god, because I probably would've said something really stupid. Like last night…a letter opener? Really! I could've done thought of something other than that! Or even better, I could've told her the truth straight away instead of trying to lie.

"What?"

"Nothing. Doesn't matter," I murmured.

She nodded, obviously wanting to change the subject. "Well I'll see you later."

"Bye." I replied, heading for the common room where I knew someone would be waiting…

"You took your time!" I said irritably as I saw Ron Weasley turn the corner of the corridor and walk towards me quickly.

"Sorry, got lost. I have only been here once, you know!"

"What? When?"

"Oh…never mind." Ron replied. "Get us in there then!"

"What? Oh, right." Ron rolled his eyes. "Pureblood."

The white wall slid open and revealed the steps to the common room. "Pureblood? That's the password?" Ron sniggered. His red hair clashed with the greenish light that glowed around the room.

"Don't blame me, blame Snape. He's the one who changes the password because, unless you didn't notice, we don't have a nice, polite picture that talks to us and changes the passwords. We have a little bit of white wall to work with."

Ron was looking around the common room anxiously, as if he was waiting for something bad to happen. I clapped my hands in his face. "Hello? Earth to Weasel Bee! Get me into that damn storeroom now!"

"Alright, alright. Bloody hell, Malfoy, it isn't going to run away! Follow me…"

Blimey, he seemed to know his way round the Slytherin common room more than me! He walked up the stairs to the boys' dorm and stopped before he got to the door. He kneeled down and pulled back the green rug that was on the floor, revealing a square trap door.

"How'd you know this was here?" I ordered.

"Believe me, you know these things when your best girl mate is the cleverest in your year and your best guy mate is literally a magnet for trouble," Ron pulled open the trap door. I peered down it. The black abyss seemed to go on for ever. There was a long metal ladder that stretched down with it. "You're sure this goes to the storeroom?"

"Yeah. Positive. Go on then!"

"Aren't…aren't you coming?"

He sighed. "All right then! Bloody hell, Malfoy, you can be such a wimp!"

"Whatever." He didn't understand why I needed this so much. "So your Mudblood friend found this, then? Sorry…I meant your Muggle-born friend." I rolled my eyes as I watched Ron start descending down the ladder.

"Yeah, actually she did! And don't you dare call her Mudblood." He muttered. I followed him down the tunnel, hoping and praying that Snape wasn't in there when we got down.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry."

"You know, if you actually got to know her, you might actually like her! You've got one thing in common anyway…"

"What's that?"

"You're can both be a complete pain in the arse sometimes!" Ron laughed.

"Ha! Funny!" I said sarcastically. I suddenly felt my feet hit the ground. It was pitch black and I had no idea how Weasley knew where he was going. "Are we nearly there?" I droned.

"Bloody hell, Draco, calm down! What's got your wand in a knot?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I muttered as Ron pushed open a door. Thousands upon thousands of tiny vials stood on wooden shelves. Potions for everything you could imagine. So this was the famous Severus Snape's storeroom. And I was IN!

"Try me."

"Doesn't matter. Do us a favour, help me find these ingredients." I shoved the piece of paper in his face.

He grunted in reply and took the paper off me as I searched the shelves for lacewing flies, whatever they were.

We finished collecting the ingredients and were about to leave when we heard someone talking outside. It was none other than Professor Snape…

Somebody – Snape presumably – started fiddling with the locks outside. "Oh, God, that's it! Say hello to the next train ride home, Malfoy!" Ron squeaked. I slapped my hand on his mouth.

"Shut up!" I hissed. I nodded at one of the cabinets behind him. "Get behind there! Quick!" and I literally shoved him behind the cabinet. We held our breath and didn't say a word until we heard Professor Snape walking away.

"Thank god for that!" And of course, Ron started getting all happy and tried getting out of the small space we were squashed into and completely knocked the whole damn cabinet over, totally blocking both exits.

In other words, we were trapped. We had no way of getting out, and nobody else could get in. Excellent.

"RON!" I yelled. "WE HAVE NO WAY OF GETTING OUT! WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR?"

"It was an accident!"

"AAARRGGHHHH!"

Half an hour later, and I was still stuck.

"Going to the Yule Ball tomorrow then?" I murmured as Ron tried a levitation spell to try and shift the giant cabinet.

He gave up and sat down on the floor beside me, scowling. "Yes."

"With who?" I frowned.

"Padma Patil…" He muttered. "Not exactly my first choice."

"Well, Weasel Bee, you don't always get what you want, do you?"

"Guess not." He grunted. "Who're you going with?"

"No-one. Can't go. I can barely walk. That's why I let you go down the ladder first, so that if I fell you'd cushion my fall and you'd be the one who went splat, not me."

"Thanks!" Ron rolled his eyes. "Who would've been your first choice anyway?"

"Not telling you! You'd never believe me!"

"Go on, Malfoy. You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine."

"Fine…you go first." I said. Suddenly Ron's skin went from pale to the exact same shade of red as his hair.

He mumbled something incoherently. "Sorry, didn't hear that." I said.

"Hermione…"

"S'oryt Ron, the whole school knows you like her."

"Not everyone!" He protested. "You didn't answer the question, anyway. Go on, tell me yours."

I sighed. Why had I got myself into this? "Astoria." I mumbled.

"No!" Ron gasped in disbelief. "Astoria Greengrass? But she's like…a year younger than us."

"So?"

We were interrupted then. Suddenly, we were sitting before Albus Dumbledore, who had just Apparated into the storeroom. We stood up immediately and tried to explain, but he silenced us. "You will explain later. For now, take my arm." He held out both of his arms and we held on. I squeezed my eyes shut and when I opened them, we were in the entrance to the Great Hall, where everyone was stuffing their faces. I suddenly realised just how hungry I was. I nodded at Ron and went to join the Slytherins, while he went and sat with the Gryffindors.

I was just about to start my meal when I heard Weasel Bee calling my name from the Gryffindor table. I had a bad feeling about this. "MALFOY! COME HERE, WILL YOU?" He was shouting. I remembered my promise – I'd vowed to become his willing slave for a whole twenty four hours.

"What? What do you want?" I hissed as I reached the Gryffindor table. Ron, I noticed, was sat in front of a huge pile of spoons.

"Pass us a spoon, will you? I can't quite reach!"

"THEY'RE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!"

His eyebrows shot up. "Are we forgetting something?"

I sighed with annoyance and reached for a spoon. He pointed at his dish and then opened his mouth wide. Oh, no. He wasn't going to make me do this was he?

"Oh, no, I am not feeding you your desert!"

"Oh, OK. I think I'll go visit Professor Snape and tell him how you stole from his personal stores then. Wanna come with me?"

Praying that the other Slytherins didn't see, I sat in a space he'd cleared for me and began spoon-feeding him his meal. OH, THE HORROR!

Thank the lord he was a fast eater!

….

I got to the common room later than the others that night. I flopped down on my bed, completely exhausted and rolled over onto my side, trying to get comfortable, when I heard the crinkling of parchment under my pillow. I reached underneath my pillow and found a folded-up piece of paper. I unfolded it and read:

Draco,

We need to talk. Urgently. Meet me in the Astronomy Tower at around midnight tonight.

Astoria

I read the note about five times, completely petrified. Why did I get the feeling that something bad was going to happen…?