A/N: I'm sooo sorry for not updating for so long! But this'll be a chapter to remember, and a chapter of remembering! Ha ha ha. :) As obvious by the title of the chapter, this is where things go downhill; yeah, you thought I wouldn't do that did you? Well, I had kinda planned on something going downhill but not this early actually. I only did it this early cause I was listening to a song one day and decided to incorporate it later so I had to make a few changes. That change? ... I will tell you at the end of this chapter. :) (The usual disclaimer is in effect as of now.)
Draco,
Everything is set, your initiation will take place two days before Christmas here at the Manor precisely at ten o'clock. Both you and Blaise shall apparate directly here from Hogsmade.
Lucius
Hermione's hands shook as she read the now-smoothed-out-but-still-crumpled letter for a fifth time, but this time it dropped from her hands. She had found it lying next to the garbage can between the desks in the common room when she walked in from the library after classes. Draco had told her that he had practice for the upcoming Quidditch game after classes were through for the day. The portrait door swung open, but she paid no attention to the fact that there were approaching footsteps; she didn't even care who's they were until she heard her best friend's voice.
"'Mione? You okay?" Hermione turned around to face Ginny, who saw the tear streaks on her cheeks, and the fire in her eyes. "'Mione! What's wrong?" The red head ran to her best friend's side, sitting down on the couch. "You look like you've been to hell and back."
"Oh, I have, Gin," she whispered. "I have been to hell and back, and you have been too without even knowing it. I wouldn't have known it had I not found this letter," she said, holding up the letter in her hand where it was beginning to crumple yet again from her squeezing her hand closed. The young red head quirked an eyebrow not understanding. "They intended on hiding this from us, did they? And to think, Aunt Minerva had just told me that it was taken care of, that they would both be safe!" Anger radiated heavily off of the Head Girl. "Here! Read it, see for yourself Gin; they're still going through with it!" She wiped away the angry tears that were falling heavily a quickly from her eyes. Ginny took the now half-recrumpled letter from her friend and scanned it once.
"No," she whispered, scanning it again. "No, no, no!" Ginny scanned the letter three more times before the tears finally began forming. "No, it can't be true! Maybe... Maybe they just haven't told their parents yet!" Ginny dropped the letter, grabbing Hermione's hands and looking her directly into her eyes. "They just haven't refused yet, that's the problem; that's what it has to be!"
"Gin they lied to us!" Hermione yelled at the younger girl, standing up and walking a bit away from her. "Don't you get it? They're getting the Mark!" The tears that she had once tried to get rid of she finally let flow free. "They lied to us, they haven't truly changed no matter what we think no matter what they're telling us!" She flopped on the chair beside the couch with her head in her hands, crying; Ginny continued to sit in her place on the couch with silent tears slowly falling. "I can't believe this," Hermione whispered quietly. "After all that I've been through with my parents dying, I knew—I just KNEW–that he had to be setting me up when he decided to stop that day and act concerned."
"What's shaking girls? You know Hogsmade is tomorrow, right?" Pansy said walking into the Head's Common Room. She stopped dead in her tracks, seeing the two girls in the chair and on the couch. "What happened to you two? Mia, you look ready to kill someone and Gin, you look like a ghost that can't get over the fact you're dead! Not that I'm comparing you to Myrtle," she finished with a half-smirk, half-smile. Wordlessly, and not looking at Pansy, Ginny handed the letter to the other girl who scanned it just as quickly as the other two had. "No," she said quietly, "this can't be right! I know the two of them don't want the mark! I even heard them talking about a meeting they were having with Snape yesterday!" She looked at Hermione. "Mia, this can't be true—"
"Well it is," Hermione snapped. "They're lying to both of us, they never planned on getting help; it was just a ruse to get into our heads." She looked up at Pansy. "I just hope our friendship hasn't been a ruse either," she said quietly. Pansy walked over to Hermione and knelt in front of her.
"Of course it hasn't been! I meant what I said that day, I've always wanted to be your friend; your's and Ginny's! It was the whole house rivalry that stopped me." Pansy looked at the letter in her hands. "Have you talked to McGonagall yet?"Both girls shook their heads. "Go then, go see her. I'll stay here and wait for these two numskulls, alright?" Hermione looked up at her Slytherin friend.
"Alright," she replied quietly. "Let's go, Gin." Both girls stood and hugged Pansy, all three of them smiling a bit. Quietly, the two Gryffindors left through the portrait hole, Pansy looking after them.
She sighed, looking down at the letter in her hand. "Draco Lucius Malfoy and Blaise Hermes Zabini, you are both in a shit load of trouble with Pansy Grace Ann Parkinson; and you're not going to like it when you get it," she said quietly to the now empty Head's Commons.
~*~H&L~*~
"You said it was taken care of, Aunt Minerva," Hermione practically yelled at her aunt. "And then I find a letter from his FATHER of all people stating the fact that their initiation will be taking place TWO DAYS before Christmas?" Her chest was heaving as she breathed heavily, with what seemed like a waterfall of tears that just wouldn't end. Ginny sat at a desk quietly, watching her best friend speak for them both while her own tears continued to flow. "So, what, did Dumbledore turn him away? You know, he promised me something and said that he'd take care of it and then I talk to you and YOU say that it's all taken care of; so I figured that he must have gone to the Order for help, then told Blaise to also. And then all of the sudden I find this... This... PAPER that basically tells me otherwise and makes it look as though they were turned away!" Her fists slammed down on her aunt's desk. "What... Happened?"
McGonagall opened her mouth the answer but there was a knock on the door before it opened. "Oh, I'm sorry Minerva, I can come back later," the visitor said beginning to close the door.
"No!" McGonagall yelled slightly, making her visitor open the door a little wider, confused. "Miss Granger and Miss Weasley were just leaving, Severus, please come in." Snape did as he was told, as McGonagall stood up and walked around her desk to the two girls. "Hermione, Ginny, I believe we shall continue this later with the Headmaster?" She quirked an eyebrow at the two girls. "Now, I would say that it is safe to say that I believe that you should spend the evening with Miss Lovegood in the Ravenclaw Dormitories away from all of this, yes?" Both girls nodded, Hermione's a little more curter than Ginny's as she was pissed off with her aunt, and began to walk to the door. "I will owl you when we will continue this." She shut the door behind both girls, locking it before turning around and removing her concealment charm while looking at Snape, tears beginning to form in her own eyes for the first time since she had seen her niece that night. "Oh, Severus," she cried, burying her face into his shoulder.
"Minnie," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "How did they find out?" McGonagall looked up at him confused, her curiosity shining brightly in her eyes. "I heard the whole thing form the other side of the door," he said a little guiltily. "You really should have put a Silencing Charm on when they walked in; I was mere steps behind them." McGonagall nodded, before looking at the ground.
"It ap-appears your Godsons were a little reckless; Draco threw the letter he brought to the last meeting away in a garbage bin in the Common Room instead of his room, and when Hermione was picking up discarded pieces of parchment, she found it next to the bin instead of IN it." She buried her face in his shoulder again. "She knows everything, and I can't even explain it to her; she must hate me now!" McGonagall began to sob into his shoulder.
Snape tightened his arms around McGonagall and held her close. "No, she doesn't hate you, she hates the fact that she doesn't know what's going on." She continued to sob into his shoulder as he rested his cheek on top of her head. "It will take her some time, but it will all be okay, Minnie. I promise." Sobs wracked from McGonagall's chest as she nodded slightly into his shoulder. He tightened his arms around her even more. "We'll be safe, I promise." He sighed, kissing her forehead before resting his chin on top of her head. "I love you," he whispered quietly.
~*~H&L~*~
Both boys walked into through the portrait into the Head's Common Room laughing. "Mate, I thought you were gonna kill Nott for that! I mean, it's one thing to do it in a game but against his own teammate at practice?" Blaise laughed even harder.
"I almost hexed him right off of his broom right then and there," Draco replied. Both boys turned to see Pansy, the look on her face cause them both to stop laughing. "What's up Pans? How come you're in here?" He looked around and finally noticed that Hermione and Ginny were no where in sight. "Where's Mi and Gin?"
Pansy stood up from the couch, walked over to both boys and smacked Draco across the face so hard that you could hear the whoosh before the crack of her hand against his face; he stood there stunned while Blaise tried to hold in his laughter, until she hauled off and smacked him in the same manner with the whoosh and the resounding crack both. They looked at her incredulously, both stunned and shocked as well as a little confused. "You numbskulls! You idiots! You are COMPLETE imbeciles! I though I knew you both better than this"-she held up the letter-"but apparently NOT! How could you do this to them? Do you know Mia actually thought that even MY friendship with her was bogus! But, thankfully, she has that knack of knowing when someone is lying to her when she looks into their eyes and she saw the truth in mine!" Pansy's chest was heaving as she hauled off and smacked both boys again. Suddenly, she looked at the clock and then the portrait. "They should have been back by now," she said quietly to herself. She glared at the boys again. "You two better think about this and about what you plan on telling them tomorrow if they even speak to you!" With that, she threw the letter at the boys and stalked out of the Head's Commons and towards McGonagall's office to find her two friends who should have returned.
After Pansy left, the two boys looked at each other, massaging their jaws. "What was that about? I don't even know what she meant!" Draco looked down at their feet and saw the piece of parchment. Picking it up, he uncrumpled it and briefly caught what it said before his eyes widened to the size of saucers. "SHIT!"
Blaise jumped a bit. "What is it, mate?" He looked over Draco's shoulder before realizing what he held in his hands. He groaned. "Oh no," he said. "Please don't tell me that Mia and Gin found that..." Draco sighed.
"I think they might have," he said quietly. He sighed again before crumpling up the letter-yet again-and throwing it in the fire. "I just KNEW I should have burnt it when we got back!" Draco kicked a chair sitting at their personal dining table, which tumbled backwards. "Damn it!" He turned away from his best friend, not wanting him to see him cry. Draco furiously wiped away the tears that were falling without his permission. He looked up at the mantle on the fireplace and saw the photo that was of the five of them-Pansy, Blaise, Ginny, Hermione, and him-laughing and waving; every once in a while either he or Blaise would lean over and kiss Ginny or Hermione on the cheek. And Pansy would look over smiling even wider at the happiness of her two friends.
"Drake, mate, what are we gonna do?" Blaise asked quietly. "They weren't even supposed to know... Now what?" He sat down with his head in his hands. "We did all this for them, and now we're gonna loose them aren't we?" Draco strained to hear the last sentence, as Blaise practically whispered it like they were in a room full of noise and didn't want anyone else to hear.
Draco sighed, slowly walking over and sitting down beside Blaise. "God, I hope not. She's been through so much lately: her parents, my stupidity on the trian, Potter, finding out about the twins-"
"You told her about the twins?" Draco looked up to see Blaise looking at him.
"Kinda, Pansy told her for me since I couldn't find the right time to." Blaise opened his mouth as though to say "Ah" but didn't vocalize. Both boys lapsed into silence. "Well, why don't you stay here tonight? I don't think you really wanna be confronted by Pansy again tonight in the Common Room."
Blaise nodded. "Yeah, she may smack me again," he replied absentmindedly rubbing his cheek again. "God, I forgot how hard she can smack!" Draco laughed, causing Blaise to look at him. "What's so funny?"
"You think Pansy's bad? NEVER get on Mia's bad side; remember third year?" Draco subconsciously began to rub his left jaw-opposite of the one that Pansy smacked-as he always did when he began thinking about that day. "Shit, mate, I mean; she has one MEAN right hook!" Blaise was rolling on the floor laughing again.
"I... Re... Remem... ber th... that! Ha ha ha ha, I... I guess... Guess it... It was... Better than... Than hav... Ving her... Cur... Curse you! Ha ha ha ha," Blaise said in between laughs. Draco reached over and thumped him on the head, in which cause him to immediately stop laughing. "Bloody hell, mate!"
"Shut up," Draco growled, still rubbing his jaw. "I swear, I think she may have cursed that swing; it hurts just thinking about it." Blaise began to quietly have a fit of laughter again, which Draco didn't notice. Draco sighed. "Come on, mate, let's go to bed." Blaise quit laughing, and nodded, heading up the stairs.
"I'm gonna shower, mate," he said, not noticing Draco nod silently behind him.
~*~H&L~*~
Pansy frantically banged on Professor McGonagall's office door, why hadn't Mia and Ginny come back? Were they still here? She was worried, but she finally quit pounding hoping that McGonagall had heard her. "Severus," she heard a hushed whisper from the other side in an unfamiliar voice. "Get the door! It could be a student."
"And say what, Minerva?" Pansy's eyebrows raised. "Why not you?"
"Severus! I can't for... Obvious reasons—JUST GO GET THE DOOR!" Pansy's eyes bulged out of her head. First off, that wasn't Professor McGonagall's voice that she knew of, it sounded too young; and second off, what the hell did the "obvious reasons" mean? Professor Snape opened the door to see Pansy's eyebrows almost popping off her head while her eyes were nearly popping out of her head.
"M-Miss P-Parkinson," he stuttered a bit, slightly shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"I-I was looking for Hermione and Ginny," she said, her face not changing. "Wh-what are you doing here?" Snape visibly gulped a bit, as Pansy's already high eyebrows quirked a bit. "And what are 'obvious reasons'? You know you really should have a silencing charm on this door," she said matter of factly, her face relaxing a bit to be replaced by a slight smirk. She heard a mumbled "Shit" from the other side of the door, and her smirk only widend along with Snape's eyes.
"M-Miss Gr-Granger and M-Miss W-Weasley left and are i-in the R-Ravencl-claw Rooms tonight," he answered before gulping. "Thank you for, um, the, uh, knowledge M-Miss P-Parkins-son."
"Severurs," the younger sounding-McGonagall hissed in the background.
"Right," he said, turning red. "G-Goodnight then." Snape shut the door on her, and she heard the silencing charm before she heard nothing. She looked at the door some more, before turning and heading to the Ravenclaw tower.
They listened from the other side, and heard her finally walk away; both visibly relaxing before she smack him in the arm. "Severus!" MacGonagall yelled at him. "You didn't silence the door?" He winced slightly, looking at her as she clutched her robe around her; things were obviously getting a little heated as when he let the front of his robes go he had no shirt.
"I'm sorry, Minnie, I didn't expect anyone down here," he said, with a slight pout glittering in his eyes. "I love you," he said quietly, taking a step towards her. She smiled a bit, leaning up to kiss him. When she pulled away he smiled, before whisking her away bridal style back up to her private office; this time remembering to silence the door.
A/N: So, basically Pansy is kind of suspicious now. Yeah, that was a quick add in. No one was really supposed to know anything until closer to the end but I decided to change that when I changed this: HERMIONE AND GINNY FOUND OUT NOW! They weren't supposed to find out until after the chapter after the chapter about them getting the Mark. But, I want them to be mad for a little while before I did the chapter with the song in it. So, until next time! :)