Chapter 11

Chapter 11

-New Conclusions-

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Disclaimer: Not mine! Not mine! Not mine!

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"Hermione, what goes into the potion next?" asked Harry. He had been given the job of carrying ingredients because they didn't trust him near the potion. Pansy chopped and Draco mixed them in the cauldron. Hermione stood nearby, and gave step by step instructions. Theo was standing off to the side, and keeping watch.

"What's next?" asked Pansy looking over at Hermione.

She opened her mouth and then closed it again. Crunching her brows together in concentration, she finally whispered, "I can't remember."

"Hermione…" Harry said softly, realizing what was happening.

"Quick, ask me something! Anything!" She asked, in a panic.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Draco interrupted. "We don't have time to play 20 questions. Give me the list we made earlier before the whole potion is ruined."

Hermione pulled a wrinkled piece of parchment and thrust it forward. Pansy grabbed it, and started slicing up ingredients.

"Hurry up Pans," said Draco impatiently his eyes focused on his work. "We need to add the next one now!"

Hermione had started sobbing.

"It'll come back Hermione. Don't worry. When we get out of here everything will go back to normal," said Harry. He was on his way to comfort her when they heard someone coming.

Theo looked around warily, trying, but it was too dark, and the light from the fire made it harder to see.

"Of course," said Draco in realization. "Everyone can see us for miles with the fire going. I can't believe we were that stupid."

"Like we had any other choice," Harry told Draco. "Hermione, stay here with Pansy and Draco. Keep an eye on them and make sure that nothing happens to the potion. I'm going to go help Theo." He picked a stick up off the ground. He swung it around like a baseball bat, testing the grip.

"The potion's almost done. I'm going with you," Pansy insisted.

"That potion is more important than anything else, so stay here, and guard it."

"Don't presume you can tell me what to do, Potter," she said with a glare. "You're not our leader, so don't act like it."

"Fine, do what you want. I can't stop you anyway."

"Fine," said Pansy. She wasn't happy.

The group watched at Justin Finch-Fletchley entered the clearing from the right. His bow was cocked and ready, and he was swinging it from side to side, his eyes wild. Theo could tell that he didn't recognize any of them. His fingers were letting go of the string when Susan screamed. Theo jumped. It was only luck that the arrow hadn't been launched at one of them. Justin looked at her, and turned the bow so it was trained directly at her. She cringed away and tried to curl herself into an even smaller ball.

Justin was from her house in Hogwarts, Draco thought, and was probably closer to Susan than anyone else on the island. A flicker of recognition flickered in Justin's eyes when he saw her, but it was gone so quickly that his bow didn't even waver.

Theo stood nearby, uncertain what he should do. If he moved forward to try and stop him, there was a very real chance that his finger would slip and the arrow would go right through the whimpering girl. In the direction he was aiming, there was no way he'd miss.

While Theo's internal debate was going on, Pansy gave Draco a look, and nearly invisibly tipped her head toward Justin. Draco nodded and picked up the knife. Unidentifiable green and brown residue was still stuck to it. Hermione probably could have identified it if she was at her peak performance.

The two Slytherins moved forward in unison. Pansy pushed Justin's arms upward in a quick hard shove. Justin twisted to look at her, but before he could turn to face her Draco's knife buried itself between his shoulder blades. The arrow was released into the night sky, and Justin fell to the ground nearly impaling himself on his bow.

Harry ran over, his face a mixture of anger and concern. He grabbed Draco by the elbow and spun him around.

"What did you think you were doing?" he asked harshly. "I thought I told you to stay by the potion."

Draco stiffened at the tone of Harry's voice, and replied with a sneer. "What's wrong Potter? Since Pansy refuses to let you boss her around you've decided to move on to me?" He started to walk away, but Harry grabbed his arm. "Release me," he hissed. "I may not be up to beating the crap out of you, but I'm a Slytherin. I can come up with a dozen ways to make you suffer without touching you at all."

Harry loosened his grip on Draco's arm and the blonde walked away. His shoulders slumped in defeat. Draco could have been hurt! Didn't he realize that? He looked over to where Justin's body lay. Blood was pooling under him, and sinking into the grass. Harry looked over to where Draco stood by the fire without a spot on him. Only Draco could stab someone, and still keep his clothes spotless. He was so beautiful. Harry had watched the whole encounter in horror, unsure if trying to help would do more harm than good. Only the perfect timing of the two Slytherin had prevented anyone from being seriously injured.

Harry realized that his response had been pretty harsh. His only excuse was that watching the whole encounter had scared the hell out of him. In any case he owed Draco a bit apology. He hadn't meant to sound like such an ass. Walking over to Draco he started to apologize. Draco ignored him completely, and turned his back to Harry whenever possible.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered. "I didn't mean it like it sounded. I was just worried you might have been hurt."

After a moment Draco turned to face him. Softly he said, "Harry, you need to trust me to be able to make my own decisions. You don't have the right to stop me from doing what I want, so don't act like you do."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Yes, you did."

"I'm sorry. I just don't want to see you get hurt." Harry looked down at his feet, unsure of what else he should say.

Draco slid his hand over the brunette's cheek, lifting his face so that Harry's eyes met his. "Don't do it again."

Harry nodded, but didn't say a word. He pulled Draco closer and dropped his lips onto the other boy's. It started off gently, in an unspoken apology, but swiftly heated as the world around them slipped away.

Draco wrapped his arms around Harry and pulled him as close as he could. Harry threaded his fingers into the blonde's hair, pulling it out of place. He looked so adorable tousled with his lips red from kissing. The kiss deepened, and pale, delicate fingers roamed over any bare skin they could find before making their way under Harry's shirt. Harry trailed his lips down Draco's neck, licking and sucking as he went. A soft nibble at the base of his neck and he moaned tilting his head for more. Their hips pressed even tighter, rubbing against each other needily. Harry could feel the hardness in Draco's pants pressing against him, just as Draco could feel his. They moved against each other, searching for the release they knew was coming.

Pansy and Theo turned around politely when the boys started kissing. Hermione stood and stared, transfixed by the sight in front of her. She didn't know what shocked her more, the fact that her best friend was kissing a she hated for years, or that they actually looked quite hot doing it. Pansy took her by the shoulder, and turned her around.

"Give them some privacy," she said quietly. "They won't be able to get much more of it."

Minutes passed and the moaning was getting louder behind them. "We better stop them before they start going at it on the ground," said Theo

"Yeah, Draco would hate to get his robes dirty," Pansy smirked.

Theo grinned in response. "Or the front of his pants either."

Hermione quickly covered her ears. "I don't need to hear that stuff you know. Harry's my best friend. He's like family! It's like watching your parents do it."

"You were staring earlier," Pansy countered.

Hermione shook her head in denial. "I was not. I was just…surprised."

"Yes you were," Theo put in. "You seemed pretty interested."

"Was not."

"If you weren't then why are you blushing?" asked Pansy.

Hermione blushed even harder and looked away.

They headed back to join the two boys when they heard a noise. It was the same noise they had heard when Justin had stumbled across them, and they tensed.

Harry and Draco were quite engrossed in each other when they heard it. Harry pulled away. The sound was getting closer and closer. He stepped in front of Draco, shielding him with his body. Normally Draco would have complained, but right now he didn't even notice. He was too busy trying to adjust his trousers and muttering about 'damn interruptions'.

All of them were ready when Seamus came stumbling out of the woods. Harry smiled in recognition, and went to walk toward him when Hermione grabbed his arm. She didn't say anything, but he stopped and realized that it was very likely that Seamus wasn't himself.

The Gryffindor was looking around wildly. He didn't have the darkness in his eyes that Justin had, but there was something still something different about him. He held a large sword in front of him. It was positioned across his chest, and strangely enough Harry was reminded of an avenging angel he had seen in a storybook once. What frightened him most however, was the blood that dripped down the blade and onto the ground.

"Seamus?" Harry said cautiously.

The Irish boy turned to look at him. "Harry," he said sadly. "I was hoping you'd have gotten away from here. This whole place is a death trap you know. We're all going to die in agony as the poison works its way through our bodies."

"We're going to get away, Seam," Harry said, and approached him slowly, as if he was moving toward a wild animal. "We are," he nodded emphatically "We have a plan. We made this potion, and it'll be ready in a minute or two, and we're going to see what's in our blood-"

That seemed to be a bad thing to say. "Harry," Seamus interrupted. "I'm going to have to put you out of your misery. I'm truly sorry about this. We've been friends a long time, and it hurts me to do it, but you'll be glad later. I'll be saving you from the pain you'll go through when the poison takes over. I saved Lavender you know. She was dying right in front of me. I saved her and now she's at rest. God will take good care of her."

"I'm not going to die," said Harry angrily. "Stop spouting that bullshit. You're just trying to run away."

Seamus didn't even hear him, and moved forward. His sword was raised, and Harry hadn't even seen him lift it.

"WAIT!" yelled Harry. "Don't do this Seam. You don't want to do this. It's us, Harry and Hermione," he pulled her closer, but still kept her protected. "We're your friends."

Seamus's arm paused, but then he noticed Pansy and Draco. "You've already been corrupted," he said. "You're with them." He pointed toward the Slytherins.

Harry rushed forward while he was distracted, and knocked Seamus onto the ground while dodging the sword. He straddled his waist, but the constant squirming and struggling made it hard to keep him still. Pansy kicked the sword out of his hands and Theo sat on his legs, which were kicking violently.

"Go get the rope," Harry yelled. "Hurry!"

Draco quickly retrieved it, and tossed it to Harry.

"How are we going to do this?" asked Theo. "There's only one rope."

"Tie his hands to his feet," suggested Hermione. "Wrap the rope around his body once so that he can't get free too easily. It should also stop him from moving around too much."

They got his feet tied, and twisted the rope around his body. It hadn't been an easy feat. Seamus fought them every step of the way. Then Harry and Theo each grabbed an arm, and pushed them toward each other. Seamus was twisting and pulling to keep them apart, but even with his violent twisting they managed to do it. Pansy quickly tied the rope around his wrists before he could yank them apart again.

Hermione checked Seamus for weapons. The few she found were placed in the cabin out of reach. They left him lying on the edge of the clearing. It was time to try the potion.

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