Sorry that I've taken so long to update! I've been really busy lately and I don't have alot of time to write. I'm going to try to update every couple of weeks from now on.
I also want to say thank you all for reading and I would love it if you guys could review as well.
Thank you and sorry!
Chapter 8: Turn Of Events
Draco Malfoy sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. It was the end of term feast. In Draco's opinion, the conversation at the table was the same as it always was; dull and pointless.
"Well," said Marcus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, "my father can get me any broom I want. He said he'll get me a Nimbus 2000 for Christmas. If you buffoons can convince your parents to get you one, we're guaranteed to win the Quidditch Cup and then the House Cup."
If anyone was a buffoon, it was Flint. Draco, and many other Slytherins, knew that the Gryffindor Quidditch team was the strongest it had been in years, and they'd told Flint as much, yet he refused to believe it.
After the feast, as the Houses were splitting off to go to their dorms, Draco silently ran up to Harry and pulled him aside.
"We need to talk," he said as he dragged Harry down a corridor. "In here." Draco led him into an empty classroom.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" said Harry
"My father recently sent me an owl," began Draco.
"Good for you," replied Harry.
"Well," continued Draco, "do you remember when we were on Platform 9 ¾ and I told you that Father wanted me to make sure I wasn't on your bad side? Yeah, well he's finally told me why."
"And?"
"He wants—" Draco broke off and looked down. "He wants me to gain your trust so that he can get his hands on you."
"And do what?"
"I— I don't know."
Earlier that week:
Draco was sitting at a table in the Slytherin common room doing his Transfiguration homework when his father's owl came flying in. He quickly untied the parchment from its leg.
Now is the time. Gain the trust of the Snape boy. He will be of much use to me.
There was no signature, but it was definitely in Father's style: short and to the point. Draco was always getting told what to do by his father, but never why. He re-read the letter a few times, yet he still couldn't even begin to imagine why Father would find Harry useful; he was just a stupid kid who'd lost his mummy.
Draco slowly looked around the common room in a way that wouldn't be obvious to anyone who wasn't looking directly at him. Satisfied no one was watching – Slytherin was full of many suspicious people – he quietly got up and went to his dorm room to think. He eventually decided that he would tell Harry; forewarn him, if you will. He didn't know what he was going to say or how he was going to say it, he just knew I had to be said.
James Potter left Godric's Hollow and Disapparated to his home in Hogsmeade. As he went inside, he was greeted by his wife, Katelyn.
"James," she said softly, "where have you been?"
"I've," James sat down with a sigh, "I've been visiting a— let's say, an old friend."
After a few minutes of silence, when it became obvious he wasn't going to say anymore, she departed for the kitchen. Over the last few days, she'd been getting increasingly worried about her husband. James was usually a fairly upbeat person – sometimes if only for the sake of their daughter – but recently, he'd been acting…sadder. Katelyn had a feeling that the person James visited today had something to do with his darkening mood.
James sat on the sofa thinking. He thought about how it was as good as his fault that Lily Evans died that night. He thought about all the things he didn't tell Severus. He thought about how he'd followed Bellatrix and found out what she'd been planning. He'd known what she was going to do and he could've prevented all this from happening. It was his fault Severus had to live without his wife; it was his fault Harry had to grow up without a mother.
Harry stared at Draco in bewilderment. "Okay, Draco, this isn't making any sense to me. Would you care to elaborate?"
"I got a message from my father. It said 'Now is the time. Gain the trust of the Snape boy. He will be of much use to me.' and that's all I know." Draco sighed in apparent exhaustion. "There's something you should know about my father. He uses people, including me, for his crazy schemes yet doesn't tell them anything about it. This is honestly all that I know about it."
Harry eyed up Draco, just like he'd done at the train station. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked after a long pause.
Draco turned away. There was another long silence before he said, "Because I can't sit by and watch my father manipulate you like he's done to so many others. I just can't, not again."
The two boys from rival Houses stood in the otherwise empty classroom thinking about the current encounter.
"Draco," said Harry as he walked up to the blond Slytherin. "Thank you. Thank you for telling me this. I know you didn't have to and, to be honest, I'm surprised you did; but thank you."
Harry turned to leave but was stopped by Draco.
"Wait," he said. "You can't tell anyone about this." Harry turned to look at the boy that he had begun to trust. "Promise me you won't tell a soul."
"I promise," said Harry Evans-Snape as he exited and left Draco Malfoy alone in the dark classroom.
Hannah Potter was smiling as she made her way to Herbology class with her friend and fellow Hufflepuff, Susan Bones. Hannah's mother had been in Hufflepuff, but her father had been a Gryffindor. At the Sorting, she'd been kind of hoping she'd also be in Gryffindor and even more so now.
There were two reasons Herbology was her favourite class. The first was the she was very good at it. The second was that it was the only class Hufflepuff shared with Gryffindor, and that meant she got to spend time with a certain first-year Gryffindor boy. Neville Longbottom was top of their Herbology class and she was a close second. Because of this, Professor Sprout often paired them together, which Hannah enjoyed greatly.
It was their last day of classes before they went home for Christmas. Hannah was hoping that over the break she could convince her parents to let her visit Neville at his grandmother's house. Of course, she would have to ask Neville first…
Neville Longbottom smiled as he walked into the greenhouse for his favourite class. Neville loved Herbology because it was the one class that he topped; he was even better then Hermione Granger. When he got to his station, his partner, Hannah Potter, was already there.
"Hi Hannah," he said cheerfully. He quite liked the Hufflepuff girl.
"Hi Neville. Um, I was wondering if I, um…do you think my family and I would be able to visit you and your grandma over the holidays?"
Neville had not been expecting that. "Uh yeah, I don't see why not."
"Cool," said Hannah.
The rest of the lesson was spent in a somewhat awkward, but not totally unpleasant, silence. As the first-years were let out, Neville swept passed Harry and Ron, said, "I think Hannah likes me," then kept walking. Naturally, the two boys chased after him in confusion and curiosity.
"What?" demanded Ron.
"I think Hannah Potter likes me," repeated Neville.
"Yeah," said Harry, "we got that. But what makes you think that?"
"She asked if she could come visit me these holidays."
"Woah," said the other boys in unison.
"And what did you say?" asked Harry.
"I said that she could come."
"What?" said Harry and Ron who were – like a bad sitcom – still in unison.
"What's wrong with that? I think—I think I might like her."
"Okay, Neville," said Harry, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, "I think—wait, is her family coming with her?"
"That's what she said, why?"
"Well, it's just that my dad and I ran into her and her father at Ollivander's when we were getting all my things for Hogwarts, and her dad and mine seemed to, um, well let's just say they definitely weren't best buddies."
Neville didn't understand the point. "So? What's this got to do with Hannah?"
"I don't know. I just thought you should know, I guess. My dad is usually a pretty good judge of character so Hannah's dad must've done something that made my dad mad at him."
Ron chimed in. "Harry, did your dads go to school together?"
"Probably," said Harry after thinking for a moment. "Why?"
"Well something could've happened then. Your dad was in Slytherin, right? Well wasn't Hannah's in Gryffindor? If they were in the same year, that pretty much automatically gives them a reason to not like each other."
"Yeah, you're probably right," said Harry, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that it was something else. He was going to have to ask his father about it someday.
