Chapter 11 – Hogwarts Year 5, pt 1
"Voldy is a heck of a lot earlier to handle this time than last time he tried to take over the world," Sirius Black said during dinner at Godric's Hollow. "We just sit here and wait while Voldy's loyal Death Eaters and Lucius Malfoy's Death Eater renegades kill each other. When they're done, we'll swoop in and capture the survivors."
James Potter laughed and Narcissa did not. "Excellent idea," she said. "Lucius Malfoy is arrogant enough to think that he can defeat the Dark Lord by himself this time. Let him try. We won't have to risk the lives of anyone whom we'd miss."
Draco didn't like Lucius Malfoy very much, but he didn't want Lucius Malfoy to die. "Harry and Mrs. Malfoy would miss him," he said.
"Even better," Uncle Sirius said. "Voldy kills Lucius, then Harry goes after Voldy for revenge and kills the bastard again. The end." He was somewhat drunk, otherwise Draco would have yelled at him for suggesting that Draco's best friend should face the most evil dark wizard ever by himself. Harry had already done that several times, and it hadn't been much fun.
But then Draco's world went hazy and – bam! – he was looking out the Dark Lord's eyes. It really sucked to share a strong psychic connection with Lord Voldemort. It wasn't only seeing what the Dark Lord was seeing. Draco was Lord Voldemort. He could feel the man's clothes hanging on his scaly body, the cool air of the dungeon where he was hiding, the hard stone throne he sat on, and hear the voices around him including his own voice, now low and hissing.
"We must lure Llllluuuucius away from Malfoy Manor," Draco-as-Voldemort said. "Our direct attacks on his headquarters are weakened by the ancient wards. Has his boy been found?"
"He has been removed from Malfoy Manor, my Lord," a stout, black-hooded Death Eater said.
"I know that, fool. That is why we are looking for him." Draco-as-Voldemort cast a Dark spell on the man that made him jump back as if from an electric shock. Draco-as-Voldemort was pleased.
"His mudblood wife, she has appeared in public," Draco continued. "She must be shadowed. She would be too difficult to capture, but she could lead us to the boy. If we had his boy, Lllllucius would give up his foolish fight. He will submit himself and his family to my rule."
Another Death Eater came into the dungeons, and Draco recognized him as Professor Snape. Draco knew that Snape used to be a Death Eater and spy for Professor Dumbledore, like Lucius Malfoy during the First War, but he didn't know that Snape had returned to Voldemort's service.
"My lord, I have come as you requested," Snape said and bowed low to Draco. "Dumbledore does not know where Harry Malfoy is hidden. He suspects that Harry must be in one of the Malfoys' ancestral homes. Blood magic would keep him completely hidden and protected from everyone who means him harm. I have compiled a list of all the Malfoy family properties. There are many."
Draco-as-Voldemort was pleased that they finally had made some progress on their search. Snape was always one of his smartest followers. Draco-as-Draco wanted out of Voldemort's head so he could ask his parents whether Snape was acting as a double agent again. If he wasn't, Draco wanted him thrown into Azkaban for being an evil, double-crossing Death Eater.
The world went hazy again, and Draco was lying on the floor next to the dining table in Godric's Hollow. His mother was crouched next to him and held a damp cloth on his forehead. His parents were used to Draco's inconvenient out-of-body experiences. He would pass out for a minute or two, then he'd wake up and they would owl Professor Dumbledore about everything that Draco had seen.
"Sorry for ruining dinner, Mum," Draco said. "Snape is helping Voldemort find where Harry is hidden. Is Snape on our side?"
"Depends on who you ask," Uncle Sirius said, which meant that Sirius didn't trust Snape at all, but the Headmaster did.
Professor Dumbledore was almost certain that Voldemort would not be able to use their connection to intrude into Draco's mind. Draco had his special Seer powers, whereas young Tom Riddle did not take Divination at Hogwarts. Professor Snape, everyone's favorite double- or maybe triple-agent, was equally certain that Lord Voldemort would be able to easily intrude into Draco's head if he knew about their connection. In addition to his other evil talents, Voldemort was a master Legilimens. Draco's parents and their friends didn't like Snape, but they listened to him because he was usually right. Therefore, no one was allowed to say anything interesting in front of Draco until he learned Occlumency.
What a waste of his summer holidays. Draco wasn't allowed to leave Godric's Hollow alone, just in case he ended up lying unconscious in the middle of Diagon Alley. His mother thought that he should stop flying completely, but his father convinced her that Draco would be safe if an adult was on the ground watching him. That requirement meant that Draco could only fly one or two hours a day, not nearly enough! He had daily Divination lessons with his new official mentor Irwin Jones, and now he had Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape twice a week.
"Why Snape? He doesn't like me," Draco complained. "He's going to be awful."
"If you don't learn from him, you won't be able to fly by yourself and we'll never let you come to Sirius's house," his mother reminded him. Everyone was always going to important meetings at Sirius's house, but no one would even tell Draco which one of Sirius's houses they were meeting at, much less why. That was very, very annoying.
"Will I be able to see Harry, too?" Draco asked. The Malfoys knew about Draco's special connection to the Dark Lord, and they would not allow Draco to even read letters from Harry.
"You'll have to talk to Harry's mother," Mrs. Potter said. Just great. Harry's parents were very protective of their son. There was no way Draco would see him before September.
Draco cheated. He had to know how Harry was. After a Divination lesson, when the big crystal balls were still out and Irwin was talking to Draco's father, Draco did a reading for Harry. And there he was, wearing all-black robes instead of his usual Malfoy dress robes, reading a book in a small bedroom that was not in the Malfoy Manor. It was weird-looking. It was muggle. Then Draco ended the vision because he knew where Harry was. His awful aunt's house in Surrey. Harry must be miserable.
Occlumency lessons with Snape were even worse than expected. Snape hated Draco's parents and Draco's parents' friends. He didn't want to be there, but Professor Dumbledore made him come. Snape was rude to everyone, including the house elves, and during Draco's lessons he employed all his favorite teaching techniques: intimidation, cruelty, and ridicule.
"I don't want to see inside your tiny pea brain. It's all Quidditch, Quidditch, the horrifying death of Cedric Diggory, Quidditch, Quidditch, and Harry Malfoy in the bath. Try to defend yourself this time."
"Poor Cedric Diggory, again. Can we find a more interesting traumatic memory? The Dark Lord will want something that he hasn't already seen when he invades your mind."
"Surprise, surprise, naked Harry Malfoy. Try to conceal your adolescent desires, or else I'll tell Lucius Malfoy what a dirty little boy you are."
Draco didn't understand how the mind worked, but when he felt the prick of a Legilimency attack, he eventually learned how to limit what Snape saw. He messed up sometimes, and then Snape would find the memory, again, of Harry Malfoy naked and floating in the pool in prefects' bathroom when they were working on the egg for the Second Task last year.
"It is a very emotionally charged memory, very poorly concealed," Snape said. "It will be the first thing the Dark Lord finds when he attacks your mind."
But Snape never found the memory of Draco figuring out where Harry was hiding, and that meant that Draco was better at Occlumency than everyone thought. Draco's Divination lessons helped him learn how to sense the approach of visions, and by the middle of August he was able to block being sucked into Voldemort's head when he was awake.
To celebrate his success, he had a belated birthday party. Harry wasn't allowed to come, but he sent a present and a short letter that Draco was actually allowed to read.
"Congratulations on your Occlumency. Father is disappointed that he won't be able to rely on your inside information about the Dark Lord anymore. He'll find other ways to get information on our enemies. Voldemort has been attacking Malfoy Manor at least twice a week for the last month, but Father says that he is still too weak to defeat us. After all, he couldn't even keep you out of his head.
"I am in the worst place on the planet, but it's safe. Mum is here, and so is my beloved herbology tutor Kenneth. Poor Kenneth has a small garden shed instead of the Manor's greenhouses. Unfortunately that hasn't keep him from growing ugly weeds and getting me to haul fertilizer. Father says that after I pass the herbology O.W.L., I will be allowed to drop the course.
"This is another present that Father picked out for you. You may not like him, but you have to admit that he is the best at picking out presents. Don't forget to send him a thank-you note. I'll see you in September."
A birthday fairy who would grant Draco one special birthday wish! That was the third coolest present Draco had ever gotten. (The coolest was still Tom Riddle's cursed diary, and the second coolest was his Firebolt.) Everyone at Draco's party was madly jealous and shouted unhelpful suggestions about what he should wish for.
"World peace!" said Hermione.
"Firebolt II," said Ron. "No, no, the Firebolt III!"
"The end to the pixie curse on the Potter family," said James Potter, thereby giving Draco the best idea in the world for his wish.
As every wizard knows, birthday fairies are lazy, wicked creatures who don't actually want to grant your wish. They take great delight in twisting your words and willfully misinterpreting what you meant in order to give you what you didn't expect. You must be very careful and very specific about what you ask for.
"I wish to be tall," Draco said. "And not just taller than Professor Flitwick or so freakishly tall that I'm taller than Hagrid. I want to be one inch taller than Ronald Weasley, this guy here, for as long as he lives. Then if I'm still alive, I want to stay however tall I am, even though he'd be decomposing in his grave somewhere."
And it was done. Awesome. Thank you, Lucius Malfoy.
Harry Malfoy was not on the train to Hogwarts in September. He had gone to Hogwarts a week early to take the exams he had missed after Cedric's death. The Headmaster was also concerned that Harry's presence would endanger the other students on the train, because Voldemort was still trying to kidnap Harry in order to have an advantage over Lucius Malfoy. Draco knew all that because he couldn't block visions in his sleep, and he had ordered the attack on the train himself and then canceled it when he heard that Harry would not be on it.
Tall Draco Potter was a sensation as soon as he stepped onto Platform 9 ¾. His parents had to let him buy a completely new wardrobe since he had grown eight inches in one afternoon, and he had gone to the coolest Diagon Alley shops for his clothes. He was indie-sporty-hipster-grunge stylish, and his messy bed-head hair was finally sexy. He looked good and he knew it, and he wanted everyone else to see, too.
"I wonder what Harry will say," Draco said to Ron as they walked down the train corridor together. Draco loved being taller than Ron.
Pansy Parkinson whistled when he walked by her compartment. "Looking good there, Potter! Did you send Harry Malfoy naked pictures as soon as you grew up?" She was an evil witch, and that's why Draco liked her. He pirouetted for her so she could appreciate his hotness from all angles.
"You are as bad as Ginny," Ron grumbled, and Draco wondered whether Ginny Weasley had turned wildly attractive, too. He would have to check her out. But then he was distracted by some seventh year Hufflepuff girls, whom he had never truly appreciated before. Ron went off to find Hermione, and Draco stayed to flirt.
Harry was waiting for them in the Great Hall. Instead of his school uniform, he was wearing heavy black robes and long black gloves. It must be part of some strange traditional wizarding mourning ritual. He must not have helped Kenneth in the gardens very much this summer, because he was very pale, and the black clothes made him look even more deathly white. He didn't look up from his book until Draco sat down next to him.
"Stand up again," he said, and Draco gladly did so.
"What do you think?" Draco said with a big smile. "I'm an inch taller than Ron, forever. All thanks to your dad."
"Good choice," Harry said. "I thought you'd correct your eyes."
Draco hadn't thought of that. He hated his thick, geeky glasses. He sat back down and said, "Tell your dad that I want that next year."
Harry waved at Draco and wordlessly, wandlessly corrected Draco's vision. "You don't want to spoil the look," he said. "Interesting things have been happening at school this week. Professor Moody is back as the DADA teacher. Father says that's impossible."
"Why? I thought he was kind of weird and he was always doing nasty things to you, like turning you into a ferret, but he wasn't any worse than Lockhart or Quirrell," Draco said.
Harry cast a privacy spell so only Draco could hear him and said, "The Dark Lord cursed the DADA position so that no one could have it for more than one year. Moody should be gone."
"He broke the curse?"
"Or the Dark Lord wants him here. Professor Snape says that he was never told who was Voldemort's spy at Hogwarts during the Tri-Wizard tournament. Father was always suspicious of Moody. Dumbledore won't get rid of him, though."
There was one problem with becoming super-hot. Draco wasn't left alone to hear secret, alarming news from Harry Malfoy during dinner. Ginny Weasley sat next to Draco and tapped him on the shoulder and asked him how it felt to finally have his heart's desire and be tall. Ron was right; Ginny had grown up a lot during the summer, and Draco was happy to tell her all about it. He had only thought of Ginny Weasley as a surrogate little sister for years, but now she was a cute redhead with a good figure, and that counted for a lot for a fifteen-year-old boy.
As a true Malfoy, Harry was surprised and then annoyed that he was being brushed off, but he was not going to fight with Ginny Weasley for Draco's attention. He turned his back and ignored Draco for the rest of the meal. He talked with Hermione about the exams he had just taken, and they started enthusiastically planning their revision schedule for their O.W.L.s. Draco listened and tried to join the conversation, even though it was about the most boring topic on the planet, but Harry did not like to be ignored, ever. Lesson learned.
On the way to Gryffindor Tower, Draco was asked out by the hottest guy in Slytherin, Blaise Zabini, and that made him feel better. He said no because Zabini was scary and, if rumors were to be believed, a total slut, but it was still good for his ego.
"Holding out for Malfoy?" Zabini asked with a salacious wink.
"You can tell Pansy that," Draco said, because that was the sort of thing she would say, too. The Slytherins loved to tease him about Harry. They were just friends. Really! Besides, Harry was going to have a political marriage to please his father, and Draco was going to fall in love, or something like that.
Back at Gryffindor Tower, Harry was willing to include Draco in their conversation about O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, but that was still the most boring topic in the world. Instead, Draco talked with his Quidditch teammates about try-outs. He was the team captain, and he wanted them to start practicing immediately. They hadn't played as a team for over a year. Plus Draco had not been able to train as much over the summer as usual, and he wanted to get used to flying with his new and improved height.
"How long are you going to be wearing all that?" Draco asked that night while Harry was carefully taking off his black clothes.
"As long as I want," Harry said. "It's allowed in the school charter." That was the sort of short non-answer that Harry used when other people asked him questions he deemed too personal. That wasn't the way he spoke to Draco.
Draco could be just as proud and stubborn as Harry was. He was not going to let Harry ignore him again. "I'm just your best friend. You haven't said a word to me about Cedric. I still see him in my nightmares sometimes."
Neville, Dean, and Seamus were also in the room getting ready to go to bed. They were smart enough to know that they should go to bed and close their curtains as quickly as possible. Harry continued slowly changing into his pajamas, and Draco sat on Harry's bed and waited.
"You're not getting changed?" Harry asked.
"I want to talk to you first." In other words, Draco was not going to go away and let Harry sulk and sleep. Harry eventually set up privacy wards and sat down on the other side of his bed.
"What do you want to know? If I wear the black robes and the gloves, I know that no one will forget Cedric. I was supposed to spend one hundred years with him, and I kissed him only once. His family sent back the money from the engagement. This is the only thing I can give him now."
"His death wasn't your fault," Draco said. "Cedric knew the Tri-Wizard tournament was dangerous. I thought I'd be killed by a dragon in the first task. Cedric was much braver than I was. Then when Voldemort turned up, I thought I was totally dead. I was lucky, and Cedric wasn't."
"I don't know what I would do if you were killed. Father knows how important you are to me. Who knows how he caught that birthday fairy."
"I'm sure he paid someone."
"You don't know Father. His presents are personal."
Draco asked Harry about how he survived living with his aunt's muggle family in Surrey (answer: herbology tutor Kenneth kept Harry away from his awful cousin and his awful uncle), and Harry asked Draco about what it was like to be inside Voldemort's head (answer: freaky). Draco told Harry that he got propositioned by Blaise Zabini, and Harry congratulated him on that necessary Hogwarts rite of passage.
"You mean he tried with you, too?" Draco asked.
"I said no. And no. And no. And no."
Eventually they realized that it was very late. Harry kicked Draco out of his bed, and Draco went to sleep happy that he was tall and that he was no longer fighting with Harry.
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