Chapter 13- Confrontation

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporatily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Draco, I understand your need to do this independently, but I would like to know what it is you need this for." Snape drawled. Draco scowled. He needed to finish the cabinet, he didn't have time to stand here in the dark, damp room that Professor Snape called his office, conversing with said introverted godfather.

"I have a plan." Draco growled, taking the carefully wrapped brown package from the previous Potions Master and turning to leave.

"Draco, you don't have to do this alone," Snape warned, "in fact, I insist…"

"I'm not doing this alone." Draco snapped. "I have help." With that, he strode to the door and left, shutting the door harshly in his wake.

As Draco walked the corridors, he noticed how quiet it was. Almost nobody was in the stone halls, apart from a couple of first years who scattered away like frightened mice upon spotting him. He supposed it was because of the time of year. It was beginning to warm up again, since it was early spring, and people were anxious to get outside without having coats and scarves and hats piled on them. Draco, of course, had more important things to do.

He had spent a week now, tracking Slughorns' movements, and could not say with confidence that he knew Slughorns' schedule. Currently, he would be down in the Three Broomsticks, helping himself to a shot or three of firewhisky. Therefore, not was the perfect tie to slip into his office and place the package among the Professors' collection of alcoholic beverages. While the plan was vague and depended on a lot of things, Draco was sure that, upon waking in the morning, that Slughorn would believe that he had been saving it as a gift for Dumbledore. And when Dumbledore drank the alcohol Draco had purchased, he would discover that it was poisoned, and then he would die!

Draco turned to the next corridor on his way to Merridews' old office, and almost got sent flying by another person who was hurry past him. He put his hand out quickly and stopped them.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing you could have…" He stopped and narrowed his eyes. "You." It was the Fake Hermione who he had bumped into. Before he could think about what he was doing, he had pushed her (or him?) against the wall, and pinned them there by their shoulders. He growled, "Who the hell are you?"

"W-what are you talking about Malfoy? Get your hands off me!" The Fake Hermione squeaked. If Draco didn't know better, he would think he'd made a mistake and that this was the real Hermione. But of course, he did know better.

"You and I both know that the mudbloods' sould was taken from her body before the beginning of the school year." Draco snapped. "So who the hell are you parading around as her?"

"I wasn't aware you knew about that, Malfoy." The change in Fake Hermione's voice was immediate and chilling. It went from a timid school girl, to the sneering hiss of a grown snake. It made Draco feel uneasy- the voice just didn't fit the mouth it came out of "I don't believe you were there, so how'd you know?"

"I have my sources." Draco replied snidely. "What's going on?"

"My job here is classified here, brat." The Fake Hermione barked back. "It is not your need to know."

"Well can I at least know who you are?"

"I suppose. It's Gibbon, boy, and I think it's best that you focus on your own task. I don't think it would be good for your family if both your father and yourself were failures. It wouldn't please the Dark Lord." Gibbon smirked; Draco noted how strange it was to see it on Hermione's facial features. It was like looking at an alien. "Remember what awaits you, should you fail." Solemnly, Draco nodded.

"But why are you so interested in the Mudblood? The Dark Lord has no need for Blood Traitors."

"I'm no Blood Traitor." Draco hissed quickly.

"Hermione?" A new voice called from down the hallway. Both Draco and Gibbon turned their heads to face the newcomers. Potter and Weasley came into sight, and their expressions turned deadly when they saw the pair.

"Malfoy get your ferret hands off of her!" Weasley yelled, outraged. Draco could barely change his stance before the ginger blur that was Weasley practically flew forward and punch him firmly in the nose. Draco swore and stood back, apprehensively touching it, and wincing internally when it stung. Weasley grabbed his still closed fist and cursed, feeling it's throb.

"Ron! Are you okay?" Gibbon gasped, once again assuming the role of Hermione. He put it on like a mask that nobody could see through. "C'mon, let's get you to the hospital wing." The two walked down the hallway, but Potter stayed behind.

After a minute, Draco looked up and saw Pothead staring from a distance. He glared. "What do you want, Potter? Come to laugh at my pain?"

"What are you doing, Malfoy?"

"Holding my nose and trying to stem the blood flow, what does it look like?" Draco asked sarcastically. "As soon as we're done talking I can go to Madame Pomfrey and get it fixed. I think the Blood Traitor broke it."

"No, I mean…" Potter seemed to be thinking. (Of course, he was trying to figure out how to tell Draco that he had noticed how he had been acting weird all year, without sounding like a completely obsessed stalker. But there was no way Draco would be able to guess that.) "Why did you press Hermione up against the wall?" Draco could have choked on his own spit.

When he got his breath back, he managed to say, "That isn't her."

"Huh?"

"That isn't her. She's an imposter."

"Are you talking about Hermione? That isn't a funny joke Malfoy." Potter narrowed his eyes. "She's just come back from a harrowing experience, in your own manor no less, and now it's finally over, you won't let it be. You're just trying to make everything worse for her! I don't know what you've been up to this year, but whatever it is, don't drag Hermione into it!" As Potter stalked off like the drama queen he was, Draco muttered to himself.

"It's too late. She already is."

"Oh, Draco." Draco jumped, but didn't complain when Hermione appeared, seemingly from nowhere. "Let's get you cleaned up, okay?"

"How long where you there?"

"Long enough. Thank you for trying to warm him, at least." Hermione smiled at him, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt like his now swollen nose was worth it. Delivering the poisoned alcohol would have to wait until later, it seemed.

A/N: I'm back! And hopefully for good this time! I've already written Chapter 14, and am almost done with Chapter 15, so let's hope my creative streak doesn't break apart! I'm much more proud of this chapter than I was with the last one, and I apologise profusely for abandoning the story like that. It seems all I needed to get me back in my game was the looming prospect of exams- procrastination is my inspirtation!

Thanks to Mishmash414, braileys, amixdeuxgirl, asian book worm, ASlytherinInPigfarts, LYNDSEYm, Enchanted Wings, A Silent Echo, BornInTheBeautifulSouth, Slam2k, Tori Kay, a1lone1bird1lucia, Kyameron, Liger48, Macavity'sGirl722, Avalon Valour-Vantrair, dancerengland, Hermione J. G. Weasley and .20xX for following.

Thanks to Enchanted Wings, jac master and BellaJasperLover for favouriting.

Thanks to nick, LYNDSEYm (thank you for the advice! I will try to be more descriptive!), Sophia Lena Duchannes Riddle (thanks!), LandOfTheLivingSkys (Do you? It was cute, but a fail considering the quality of the other chapters!), Rigoudon3 (well, around seven months later I have returned!), and luna and the marauders rock (thanks!) for reviewing.

A notice: I created a Tumblr account towards the end of March, and have become quite addicted. Luckily, all of my creative writing time is in school, and I've come up with a sort of schedule which means I should be updating more frequenty again! If you want to come see my blog, its comixandco! Mostly I reblog about animes, most likely Hetalia, Free! and Shingeki no Kyojin, but there may be still a couple of things about Harry Potter. I'm thinking about creating an about page to list all of my fandoms in. Eh, I'll get to it eventually.

Please review!

~Comix