Chapter 14 – Hogwarts Year 5, pt 4
There were a half dozen ravens and two hawks circling the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall when Draco came in for breakfast. Harry Malfoy sat at the table writing a response for a black owl standing on the table, next to a tall stack of letters that Harry had already received that morning. There was a special edition of the 'Daily Prophet' at every seat on all four tables and the staff table.
"Who are you writing to?" Draco asked. He sat down next to Harry and looked at the headline of the 'Prophet'. 'LUCIUS MALFOY REJOINS YOU-KNOW-WHO!'
Harry put down his quill and waved at the black owl to join the other fowl overhead. "You're finally awake," he said. "I feel like I've been writing letters non-stop for days. I don't remember how many times I used the time-turner last night. Thank Merlin for Pepper-up potions."
Harry smiled weakly, and he looked miserable and exhausted. His posture was too stiff, his eyes were bright and watery from too much Pepper-up potion, his normally perfect hair actually had a few hairs lying in the wrong direction, and he was wearing the wrong clothes. For the first time all year, he wore normal Gryffindor student robes instead of his all-black mourning. He had had a rough night, but he was trying to act like he was in complete control over the situation.
If Harry wanted to pretend that he was all right, Draco would let him and try to hide how worried he was about his friend. Draco said, "What is this rubbish in the 'Prophet' about your dad changing sides?" He skimmed the first paragraph – no mention of the attack on Malfoy Manor, nothing about Lucius Malfoy being seriously injured and choosing captivity over certain death, no word about ransom.
Harry laughed too loudly at Draco's remark, for the benefit of the few other people in the Great Hall who were all watching them, and Draco was afraid that Harry was going to start crying again. He didn't, though. He was trying to be brave. "It's a very enlightening article. Father would sue if he were not being held captive by an evil Dark wizard."
"Did you hear anything else about your dad?"
Harry set up privacy wards and said, "The Dark Lord sent an owl at four o'clock in the morning. Father will be freed if I kill Dumbledore. I said I would not negotiate until Father wrote me himself." Harry kept his facial expression blank while talking about these horrible things, but Draco couldn't.
"Kill Dumbledore? Is he mad? You can't do that!"
Oops, the privacy wards were not strong enough to prevent the other students from realizing that Draco was yelling. They couldn't hear the words he said, but now everyone was turning to look at what was going on. Draco felt that he was blushing, and Harry strengthened the privacy wards so that they couldn't even hear the murmur of other voices at the table.
Draco had hoped that Harry had been only joking last night about Voldemort asking for Dumbledore's head. Harry wouldn't kill Dumbledore, Draco was 100-percent certain of that, but it still wasn't a good idea to have prolonged 'negotiations' with Voldemort.
"I won't kill Dumbledore. Father will understand," Harry said. Even with the super-powerful privacy wards, he spoke very quietly. He didn't show how miserable he felt, but Draco knew the situation had to be unbearably awful for his friend.
"Is your dad OK? Did Snape see him?" As much as Draco disliked Snape, he was glad that Snape was on their side. He would help Harry now.
Professor Snape was not at the staff table for breakfast yet. Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Madam Hooch were there reading the 'Prophet' and learning the news about Mr. Malfoy for the first time. Did the Headmaster already know the truth, or would he accept the 'Daily Prophet's' lies?
"Professor Snape says that Father will recover, but the injuries to his feet were very serious. Father may have to use a cane." That wasn't necessarily bad news. If Lucius Malfoy couldn't walk well, he wouldn't be able to participate in Death Eater attacks, as Voldemort's captive and reluctant supporter. But Draco didn't think that Harry would want to hear that.
Harry continued, "I sent two house elves to look after him. The Dark Lord refuses to let me send a St. Mungo's healer. Professor Snape is making additional healing potions for Father today, but it won't be enough. I don't think that the Dark Lord wants my father to heal properly. I hate him."
More students were coming in, seeing the 'Daily Prophet', and staring at Harry Malfoy. A large crow came in and dropped a letter in front of Harry and flew out. "Who are all the letters from?" Draco asked.
"My father's allies. Madam Umbridge and Professor Snape helped me make a list. I sent three hundred and seven letters so far. Now everyone is sending me their conditions, and I have to accept them all because I am a child, and I need their help too much." Harry reached down into his rucksack and took out a small vial. How many Pepper-up potions did he have? He drank the potion and said, "Sorry. The situation is bad, but it's not hopeless, I think."
How could it not be hopeless for Harry's dad? Draco didn't say anything, though, because he wanted Harry to look and feel better. Harry had definitely taken too many Pepper-up potions. In addition to the watery eyes, his hands were now trembling. Harry needed to sleep.
"What are you telling your three hundred and seven allies?" Draco asked, just as an envelope appeared in front of him addressed to 'Draco Potter, Seat Next to Harry, Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, Hogwarts.' Harry gestured for him to read it, and he looked at the letter that had just arrived for him.
Dear Mr. Draco Potter,
Lucius Malfoy was taken Captive in battle by Tom Riddle, as witnessed by seven Death Eaters and verified by an expert Divination reading.
Never doubt Lucius Malfoy's sincere opposition to Riddle and his henchmen. One does not forgive the attempted murderer of one's child. My father is a man of honor and pride, and he will fulfill the conditions of Captivity as required by old wizarding tradition. My family will negotiate with that reprobate Tom Riddle for my father's ransom, but we must prepare ourselves for the worst.
I release you from your alliance with the Malfoy family, and I offer you a private alliance with myself until my father is freed again. As my father's fate has shown, none of us will be able to defy Riddle without the support of other powerful wizards.
Harry Malfoy
The letter was short, stuffy, and said things that Draco already knew, and yet Draco felt proud to have received it. Harry took Draco's alliance to him as seriously as his father's important Ministry friends. And that 'expert Divination reading' was his! Draco had been able to help Harry last night when no one else could or would.
Draco said, "Don't I already have a 'private alliance' with you? You let me sleep in your bed whenever I want."
Harry smiled at the joke, without looking up from his letter. It was apparently a very interesting letter. "Write it out and slip it under my pillow the next time you feel scared and lonely late at night. Victor Krum invites Hermione, you, and me to Bulgaria for the Christmas holidays."
"He's your private ally, too?" Draco still thought of Victor as a student, but he was a fully-trained Durmstrang graduate now.
"His family has been allied with mine for centuries. His father and his cousin Piotr were not at the Manor last night, but they had been there for other attacks. We can trust the Krums." Harry looked much happier now that he knew that he had the Krums' support. Draco didn't know anything about Dark family politics, but he could guess that the Krum family must be important in the east. No wonder why Harry had been so atypically eager to become Victor Krum's friend during the Tri-Wizard Tournament last year.
"I will accept the Christmas invitation for myself," Harry said. "I'll be able to visit my other Eastern European allies and try to get them to drop some of their demands. Nearly everyone wants money. There is a limit to the Malfoy family fortunes, believe it or not." A joke! Good, Harry was beginning to act more like himself. If he would insult the Headmaster or complain about Quidditch, Draco would hug him.
Harry took a fresh piece of parchment from his rucksack and started writing his reply. The original Christmas plan was for Harry and Hermione to stay at Hogwarts to study for their precious OWLs. Now there was something more important in Harry's life than his exams.
"What about your mum?" Draco asked cautiously. "Have you written to her?" He remembered how angry Harry was at his mother last night, but now she was the only family member left who could help Harry forge these new Malfoy family alliances.
"I've been busy," Harry said. In other words, no, he hadn't written to his mother and she was not forgiven. Draco liked Mrs. Lily Malfoy and he didn't think that she had done anything wrong by not running off to Malfoy Manor when the battle was already mostly over, but it wasn't his place to tell Harry that he should be nicer to his mother. Harry wouldn't listen, anyway. He needed to save his father, and no one else mattered.
The Great Hall was mostly filled, but Draco couldn't hear what everyone was saying about Lucius Malfoy and Harry because of the super-strong privacy wards that Harry kept up. Good. Draco put his letter from Harry away, and he started to read the wildly biased and strangely inaccurate 'Daily Prophet' article about Lucius Malfoy giving up the pretense of resistance and declaring his loyalty to Lord Voldemort. There was a photo of the pile of rubble that was once Malfoy Manor, but the article did not explain why Lucius Malfoy thought it was necessary to destroy his home.
The privacy wards came down briefly and then were re-set when Hermione came and took her usual seat across from Harry. She looked like she had slept as little and as poorly as Draco had. They had spent hours last night talking about Harry, and Draco had to admit that Hermione cared about Harry as much as Draco did.
"Oh, Harry, are you all right? Draco told me all about what happened, and then I went to the library this morning to read about the traditional captivity. It's very rare for modern wizards. I'm surprised the Death Eaters recognized what your father was doing. Did Voldemort send his conditions?"
While speaking, Hermione also served Draco, Harry, and herself breakfast. Draco hadn't thought of food since he saw Harry, but he was hungry now that he thought about it. Hermione was a very smart witch. Harry accepted the full plate from her without a complaint. Who knows how many hours had passed since Harry had eaten dinner.
Harry explained while he ate: "He wants me to kill Dumbledore. I'm waiting to hear from Father before I start trying to negotiate something reasonable. I am not a murderer. Besides, if I did kill Dumbledore, I'd have to join the Dark Lord, and that would defeat the purpose of freeing my father from him. Father would remain with me."
Hermione now read the headline of the 'Daily Prophet' and made the expected complaints that it was all stupid rubbish. "Who arranged for everyone to get copies of the paper?" she asked. "Was it the Ministry? This is slander."
"I did," Harry said. "I wanted everyone to know what had happened to my father, so I wouldn't have to explain why I am not attending classes anymore. I didn't expect this blatant propaganda, though. Madam Umbridge is speaking with her colleagues at the Ministry to find out who's to blame. My family has many enemies."
"You aren't attending classes?" Draco asked. "Is that allowed? For how long?"
"Harry has more important things to worry about," Hermione said in her usual Draco-is-an-idiot tone of voice. How comforting to know that Hermione could still treat Draco normally, in spite of last night's events. She asked Harry, "Who are you writing to?"
"Your friend Victor Krum." Harry grinned, Hermione blushed, and Draco laughed. For a moment, it was almost like a normal breakfast, except the black birds overhead waiting for pledges of money and favors from the Malfoy family in exchange for their continued support. "We're invited to the Krums' estate for the Christmas holidays. Dumbledore won't be able to watch the owls come and go from Bulgaria, and I will be able to visit my other Eastern European allies. Will you come, Hermione?"
"The entire Christmas holidays?" Hermione asked. She glanced over at Ron Weasley, who was sitting next to her and talking to Lavender. She was still not dating Ron Weasley, for reasons that Draco never understood, but she would feel guilty about spending three weeks with Victor Krum. But she was a good friend, and Harry needed someone he could trust unconditionally when he was in Bulgaria. "Yes, I'll go. What about you, Draco?"
"I always go home for Christmas." Draco noticed that Harry hadn't even asked him if he wanted to come. Not that that would have changed his response, but it would be nice to know that Harry wanted him there as much as he wanted Hermione.
Now that Hermione had decided on the correct, unselfish course of action, she expected Draco to follow it, too. She said, "Lucius Malfoy's closest allies come from Eastern Europe. Harry needs our support."
Harry intervened before Hermione could continue her lecture on loyalty and supporting a friend in need. "Draco doesn't have to come. His parents wouldn't let him go with us, anyway. Mrs. Potter hates my father." Three more owls came with urgent messages for Harry. He lowered the privacy wards, and Draco could finally hear what everyone else was saying.
Lavender had sat next to Draco at some point, when he was paying too much attention to Harry to notice. She was still talking to Ron, and neither Lavender nor Ron realized that Draco and Hermione were now listening.
"Didn't you see the last paragraph? Harry is going to join You-Know-Who during the Christmas hols," Lavender said. "He could use 'Imperio' on Draco and Hermione to make them join. We have to do something to save them."
Draco smiled and was ready to join in their laughter over Lavender's ridiculous joke, but Ron and Lavender didn't laugh when he expected them to. They must be pretending to be serious, as a joke, because they couldn't really believe that about Harry.
Ron said, "Not Hermione. You-Know-Who would kill her on the spot because she's not a pureblood. Unless you think that's part of the plan—"
"If you say another word, I don't know what I'll do to you, Ronald Weasley, but it won't be nice," Hermione hissed, and Draco realized that Ron and Lavender weren't joking. Even Harry looked up from his letters.
"The 'Daily Prophet' article is wrong," Hermione said. She noticed that other Gryffindors were watching and listening to her, too, so she amplified her voice to let them hear more easily. "The Death Eaters burnt down Malfoy Manor and nearly killed Mr. Malfoy in battle. Mr. Malfoy is being held captive by the Death Eaters against his will, and Harry is trying to ransom him."
She took the charm off her voice and glared at Ron, Lavender, and anyone else who looked at her. Draco would never be able to intimidate people like Harry and Hermione could. Hermione made them all feel like scum for thinking anything bad about her friend. An envelope appeared in front of her, and Draco knew what was inside. She was a true ally of the Malfoy family.
Lavender looked suitably chastised for gossiping about Harry. Draco was ready to hear her apologize and forgive her, but then she noticed what Harry was wearing and said in her everyday happy, perky voice, "Wow, Harry, you're out of mourning. Does this mean you're available?"
"Give him space, Lav," Draco said, and he felt like a troll for being mean to his own girlfriend. But she still just didn't get it.
"Well, you tell me," she said with misplaced playfulness. "Is Harry looking for a special someone?"
"No, he only wants to save his father."
Everyone was still waiting for Harry's explanation, and Draco hated that Harry had to stop writing his letter to Victor and explain to everyone, "I have dissolved my family's alliance with the Diggorys. It would be an insult to Cedric's family for me to continue wearing mourning. Lavender, I am the most unavailable person in the world right now."
He set up his privacy wards again, this time not including Draco and Hermione, and even Lavender understood that his situation was serious. But now Draco wasn't interested in her apology. He was thinking about whether he should go to Bulgaria for Christmas with Harry and Hermione.
Dumbledore's Army met on the last day before Christmas holidays. Harry was in Professor Snape's private quarters working on his next owl to Voldemort. Snape had been conveniently instructed by Voldemort to 'keep an eye on young Harry', and so Harry and he were back to being favorite-professor/teacher's-pet. Now Snape was helping Harry conduct his negotiations with the Dark Lord over Lucius Malfoy's medical care and comfort in the Death Eaters' caves. Apparently it was unbearably damp, and Mr. Malfoy had caught a bad cold. That was more important to Harry than helping Draco and Hermione prepare spells to show to their club members.
"Maybe we should cancel the meeting," Draco said, even though it would be a shame when the Room of Requirements had decorated itself so nicely and tastefully for the holidays. There was a decorated Christmas tree, holly garlands, green and red lights, and floating mistletoe. The meeting was scheduled to begin in ten minutes, and they had no idea what they would do.
"We could review the harder spells we've done recently," Hermione suggested, but she didn't sound very enthusiastic about such a boring plan.
"That's boring. People come because we always have something new and cool to show off. Haven't you read about anything cool that Harry hasn't heard of?"
"Reading is different from doing the spells. Do you think it would be safe to do practice duels, or do we need a teacher for that?" They had already sent several students to the Infirmary from DA meetings, and Hermione tried to be more safety-conscious in her plans. The existence of the DA was still supposed to be secret.
Several people came into the Room of Requirement while Draco and Hermione were talking. Loony Luna Lovegood, the weird fourth year Ravenclaw with questionable fashion taste, came over to them and said, "You look troubled. I can help."
Draco didn't think that her knowledge of the hiding places of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks would be helpful for a DA meeting, but he didn't want to be mean. Besides, she was a Ravenclaw and that meant that, in spite of her bizarre superstitions and radish earrings, she was clever. As the (unofficial) leader of Dumbledore's Army, he should be open to suggestions from his followers. "How?" he asked.
"I can show you magic that Harry Malfoy can't do. It's pure Light arts. My father taught me."
Draco didn't know much about the Light arts. The Potters were an old Light family, and they had big books in their library about Light magic, but Draco's dad said that it was only useful in very specific, special uses against Dark magic. James Potter learned the useful bits when he was training to be an auror, and he said that Draco would have no problem learning Light spells when he was older. "It's easy for Potters," he had said.
Hermione didn't like Luna Lovegood and she looked like she wanted to refuse Luna's help, but they still had nothing planned for the DA meeting. She asked, "What kind of magic can you show us? Harry told us that the Light arts aren't strong enough for battle or dueling with wizards." Harry had said many other snide things about how useless the Light arts were compared to the Dark arts, but he was biased.
"You don't use them to hurt wizards," Loony Lovegood said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You use the Light arts to defend wizards from Dark forces. My father taught me how to cast the 'Patronus'. It's the best defense against Dementors for Light wizards."
Draco had heard of the 'Patronus' from his parents and Uncle Sirius. There weren't many Dementors wandering around Godric's Hollow, but it was a useful way to send short messages faster than owl. "It's too hard for kids to do," Draco said, because that's what his parents always told him whenever he asked.
"Maybe Luna Lovegood is better at magic than you are," Hermione said, because she liked teasing Draco. She still didn't like the idea of learning advanced magic from Luna Lovegood.
It turned out that Draco's parents were wrong about the 'Patronus' being too hard. Draco had no problem at all with the spell. He got a corporal Patronus on his first try: a stag that looked like his dad in his animagus form. Cool. Just to show off, he used it to send a message to Harry in Professor Snape's rooms.
Everyone else found it very hard. Hermione only got some silvery light to appear. Lavender asked/ordered Draco to help her get the spell to work.
"What does Loony mean about a happy memory? What did you use?"
"Anything works. I thought about breakfast today, when Harry came in without his tie and transfigured a fork into a Gryffindor tie but then Professor Sprout told him not to steal silverware from the Great Hall and took away points." Seamus had complained about the lost points and Hermione had made Harry transform the tie back into a fork before he got into any more trouble, but Draco and Harry had laughed. It was a brief happy moment, and there hadn't been many of those with Harry since Mr. Malfoy had been captured by Voldemort.
Lavender tried the spell again and nothing happened. "That was a really happy memory! Did I pronounce it wrong?"
"It sounded fine to me." Draco tried a more boring memory – yesterday's History of Magic class lecture on yet another goblin war – and another corporal Patronus appeared. "Maybe I'm happy enough all the time for all my memories to work." He tried a very sad memory – Harry crying when he heard that his father was captured by Voldemort – and, once again, there was the Patronus. "Or maybe I'm a magical genius."
"You're such a show-off, Draco Potter," Lavender said, and Draco knew she wasn't really annoyed with him.
A silver doe Patronus came through the closed door of the Room of Requirement and walked straight to Draco. It opened its mouth and said in Professor Snape's voice, "Harry congratulates you on your Patronus. Now leave him alone and let him do his real work while you play your kids games." It was funny to hear Snape's deep voice coming from the gentle, pretty, sparkling doe, but you didn't choose your guardian spirits. Snape was a Dark wizard and he could do a Patronus, so perhaps Harry would be able to learn, too.
"It would be so cool if Harry could produce a Patronus," Draco said to Lavender, because he had to tell someone. "Then we could send messages to each other all the time, even when he's in Bulgaria next week."
Hermione and Ron were practicing next to Draco and Lavender, and Ron heard Draco's last remark. "I thought Harry was staying at Hogwarts with you, Hermione," he said, and Draco knew he was going to have to apologize a lot to Hermione and Harry for telling their secret. He felt like an awful, untrustworthy person, then he tried to do a 'Patronus' while feeling rotten and it still worked. Maybe he really was a magical genius. He sent his Patronus to Harry again, just to annoy Snape.
"Do you think I could send a Patronus to Mr. Malfoy?" Draco asked Lavender. "Just to tell him that Harry's all right and he's trying to save him? Is there a way to keep them out of somewhere?" He would ask Hermione, but she was now trying to explain to Ron why she was spending the entire Christmas holidays in Bulgaria with Victor Krum.
Lavender groaned and said, "Why do we always end up talking about Harry Malfoy? He's not here. Can't you think of anyone else for five minutes?"
Draco laughed, and then he noticed that Lavender wasn't laughing with him. "Come on, Lav, don't be like that. You know what's going on with him." (Lavender muttered something like, "Because you always talk about it," but Draco didn't hear clearly and didn't ask her to repeat what she said.) "If I didn't think about Harry now, I'd be the worst friend in the world. He needs me." Draco conjured another Patronus and sent another message to Harry, asking whether he thought it would be a good idea to send a message to Mr. Malfoy by Patronus.
"If you send any more stags out of this room, Draco, someone is going to come in and find us," Hermione scolded, then she went back to yelling at Ron for not trusting her to look after herself, even when visiting Eastern European pureblood Dark wizards not known for their hospitality towards muggle-borns.
Lavender tried and failed to produce a Patronus, and that was probably why she was in such a bad mood. "Why didn't Hermione or you tell Ron about visiting Victor Krum before now? It's not nice to him. I hate the way Hermione Granger treats him."
Draco was surprised that Lavender seemed to care so much about Hermione and Ron's weird relationship that wasn't officially supposed to be a relationship. Draco thought that everyone knew that Hermione loved Ron in her weird way. Maybe Lavender didn't know Hermione well enough to see that.
Draco said, "Harry wants to keep their Bulgaria plans a secret until they're gone. I really shouldn't have said anything. Hermione wasn't allowed to tell people about it, either. She hasn't even told her parents."
"She hasn't told her parents? Doesn't she realize that it's dangerous for her to go to Bulgaria?" Lavender said, just as Ron had been saying earlier.
"Harry will be there, and so will Victor Krum. Hermione will be safe. Do you want to try 'Patronus' again?"
Lavender ignored Draco's attempt to change the topic. She would rather argue. "I know you think that Harry Malfoy is the greatest wizard since Merlin, but that doesn't mean that you and Hermione have to do everything that he tells you to do. There are other people in the world who you should think about sometimes."
Draco knew that she was talking about herself, and he knew she was being unreasonable, because he was a perfect boyfriend. He sat next to her at meals and in many of his classes. (He would fail Potions if he didn't work with Harry, and he would never stay awake in History of Magic if he didn't sit next to Hermione.) He invited her to come watch their Quidditch practices, because he knew she liked watching big, sweaty Quidditch players. Occasionally they studied together. They kissed all the time, whenever she wanted to, which was very often. What could she complain about?
Draco tried a different tactic: the serious, somber truth. He said in a low voice, "Harry really, really needs us. He's sending owls to Voldemort! Lucius Malfoy is a nasty piece of work, but he's Harry's father and Harry will go crazy if anything happens to him. We don't want another insane Dark wizard in the world."
"So you'll do whatever he says until he makes you put on white masks and kill muggles?" She wasn't making a joke, and Draco didn't laugh.
"Hermione and I are looking after him." Draco didn't like thinking about the possibility of Harry Malfoy turning into the next Dark Lord, and Harry would be furious if he knew that Draco was even thinking about it. He was glad that Lavender had listened and now looked like she was thinking about what he said.
"This is the way it's going to be?" she asked. "Harry first, then everyone else?"
Oh fuck, this was going to be the end of his wonderful uncomplicated, fun relationship with Lavender Brown, wasn't it? Draco felt a moment of panic, when he saw how serious Lavender was, and he knew that she was going to dump him in front of the entire DA. What would Harry think when he heard?
How could he save the situation? Tell her that she was just as important to him as Harry was? She would know that he was lying. Then what else could he do? Use the magic words that made all girls swoon: 'I love you'? No, he couldn't say that. They were magic words to him, too. He loved to hear her laugh, and he loved to know that she chose him to be her boyfriend, and he loved kissing her, but he was not 'in love' with her, whatever 'in love' meant, and she was not 'in love' with him.
"You're important to me, too. So is Hermione and my parents and Uncle Sirius and the Weasleys and my other friends." He hoped he sounded noble, but he felt awful for hurting Lavender like this.
"Harry first?"
"Yes. I'm sorry."
This could have been a mature, calm, dignified end to a good relationship, with no tears or resentment, if they had been lucky to live in a world without Professor Snape. Harry had received Draco's messages while in Snape's quarters, and now Snape's Patronus returned with a response.
"Don't be stupid, Potter. Sending unauthorized messages to Lucius Malfoy would break the conditions of captivity and allow the Dark Lord to treat him as his prisoner to torture and maim as he saw fit. Harry wouldn't like that, and then you'd never have a chance to see him naked again, you naughty boy."
Professor Snape was an evil bastard! He was never, ever going to let Draco forget about his embarrassing Occlumency lessons that ended with images of Harry Malfoy naked in the bath. And now everyone in the DA had heard Snape's message. Draco was blushing, and he really, really didn't know what he was supposed to say. It was just a joke! Even worse, Snape must have sent the message in front of Harry.
"It's a joke," Draco said. "Snape's being a bastard, you know? … He hates me, and now he's trying to embarrass me … and he's succeeding. … Come on, Lav, you know it's a joke."
She would have laughed, if the message hadn't come when they were arguing about Harry. "Harry first," she repeated now, and she sounded and looked as if Draco really was having an illicit affair with Harry, and Draco was blushing, as if his secret had been found out.
Now everyone else in the DA saw that Lavender and Draco were acting atypically seriously and they looked oddly unhappy together. And so their friends were putting together all the pieces and making the shocking, incorrect realization that Draco was cheating on Lavender with Harry Malfoy.
"No, it's not like that," Draco said. "Harry wouldn't - and I wouldn't – we're not – Don't bring Harry into this. This isn't about him."
"I'm not stupid, Draco. Everything is always about him."
"Not that – I mean, well – don't be mad, Lav."
The Room of Requirement knew that something more was needed: a diversion. A bunch of mistletoe appeared over Lavender's head.
"Hey, mistletoe," Draco said, but he didn't know whether he was supposed to step forward to kiss his pretty ex- or soon-to-be ex-girlfriend.
Before he could, Lavender grabbed Ron Weasley and gave him a very un-platonic kiss. Once he got over his surprise, Ron was a rather enthusiastic participant in that un-platonic kiss.
Fuck. Draco had just been dumped by his wonderful girlfriend, and Hermione was going to kill him for it.
At dinner Lavender and Ron were sitting together on the far end of the table, and Hermione wasn't speaking to Draco. Harry received several letters from his allies that he needed to respond to immediately, but he could see that all was not well in Gryffindor house. He asked, "How did the DA meeting go?"
Draco didn't want to tell Harry what happened, especially not the part about Snape's message. Hermione didn't want to talk about Ron Weasley because she never acknowledged that Ron was anything more than a 'friend'. Draco waited for Hermione to say something, and Hermione waited for Draco to say something. Harry said, "Well, should I ask Lavender and Ron how the meeting went?"
Draco wasn't going to speak first. Neither was Hermione. Harry looked at Draco and then Hermione, and he said, "Neville, what happened?"
"Nothing happened," Hermione said, because they were not going to let Neville Longbottom tell the truth. "Right, Draco?"
"Right."
Harry was now intrigued. That wasn't good at all. "Neville, why are Ron and Lavender not sitting with us?"
Like the majority of the students at Hogwarts, including many Gryffindors, Neville Longbottom was scared of Harry Malfoy, and Harry knew it. Harry smiled in an unfriendly, threatening way, and Neville had to tell him the truth. "Lavender was angry at Draco for … well, and then she kissed Ron under mistletoe." Luckily Neville was not a very articulate person, and that version of the truth was not as embarrassing as it could have been.
"Are you going to add anything to that?" Harry asked Hermione and Draco.
Draco couldn't lie to Harry. "I told Ron that Hermione and you were going to Bulgaria. I'm really sorry. That's why he's angry with Hermione."
"Lavender dumped Draco because she was jealous about how much he worries about you," Hermione said. Thankfully she did not mention the part when everyone in the DA decided that Harry and Draco were secretly lovers.
Harry didn't laugh, like Draco was afraid he was going to. He looked surprisingly upset. "I'm so sorry," he said. "It's all my fault, and I was too focused on my problems to notice. I didn't mean for anything like this to happen. You are both much better friends than I deserve."
"Hey, now we have more time to help you," Draco said. It wasn't a very good joke, and no one laughed. "You're my best friend, and Lavender knew that before we started dating. If I had to choose between Lavender and you, I'd choose you every time."
"And if Ron is going to be a stupid, stubborn jerk about me visiting Victor, then maybe I don't want to have to listen to him," Hermione said. "The stupid, stubborn jerk. I hope he's happy."
"With Lavender," Draco added.
"You think they'd really – I mean, fine. Good riddance. I'm not upset. It doesn't matter." Hermione stood up and said, "I'm not hungry anymore," and she walked very quickly out of the hall. Draco wondered whether he should go after her, or whether she'd rather be alone to cry.
"It's my fault," Harry repeated.
"That's bollocks and you know it. Hermione hurt Ron because she's spending the Christmas hols with Victor and she won't even admit that she really likes Ron, and I hurt Lavender because she wanted more attention than I gave her. I deserved what I got, and so did Hermione."
Harry and Hermione flooed to Bulgaria early the next morning, before Harry could hear that everyone in the school wanted to know whether Draco and Harry were officially dating now.