Title: Trapped Behind You
Author: relativelypositive
Rating: T for now
Category: AU/Romance/Drama/Humor
Summary: Hermione was missing for an entire month, but she never left the library. It was up to Malfoy to save her, but he didn't know it.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related and I make no money from the use of the characters created by JK Rowling.
Chapter 14
The door flung open and the professors all came out in a clump, following Flitwick's glowing wand.
"Dark magic!"
"Illegal spells!"
"None of the students could possibly have done it."
"No one would dare!"
Draco felt a cold panic start in his stomach and race to his heart. He could see what they were tracking, and it wasn't good.
"Shit," Draco muttered as he hastily stood.
"Look at them all, practically foaming at the mouth!" Blaise announced in glee.
"It's probably the portrait painter…what was his name? This will lead us to him," McGonagall said.
"This spell is very strong. Unless the painter is still in Hogwarts, then it has to be someone else," Flitwick denied.
The closer they stepped to Draco, the brighter the charm appeared to the group. Only a diagnostic spell from the Charms professor could make his charm glow that way.
Draco was screwed. They were going to make him the scapegoat after all.
Which of his many charms were they tracking? He'd littered Granger and Granger's belongings with charms every chance he got. It was great fun, especially the…risky ones.
The professors were right. He shouldn't have known many of those charms. And a couple were illegal, if you cared about those things.
Spending the summer with a gaggle of dark wizards and witches had done wonders for his charms creativity, but he had decided to use his powers for good!
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape said from the doorway, "please come in. Professors, please follow."
Snape looked mad. The only indication was a slight flaring of the nostrils, but Draco was fine-tuned to Snape's moods.
Draco stood straight and walked as arrogantly as he could past the professors. They watched the magic stream from Flitwick's wand follow Draco back into the room. As they stared at him in suspicion and awe, Draco raised an imperious eyebrow but kept his mouth shut.
He was going to see how the chips fell before deciding on a defense.
Draco went straight to the painting to ask after Hermione's welfare and was surprised to find Professor Dumbledore in the frame as well.
"Headmaster," Draco greeted.
Dumbledore smiled brightly and greeted him with a knowing look in his eyes. "Draco, my boy. I am deeply impressed with your orchestration of this solution. While also inadvertently responsible for the problem, as well," he added before Draco could soak in what he was being told.
"Solution?" Draco turned from the portrait to Snape in anticipation.
"Yes." Snape turned to the other professors and Blaise, who had snuck in with them, and made them sit down with the power of his stare.
"Mr. Malfoy, please explain the purpose of the charms you attached to Miss Granger."
"All of them?" Draco squeaked?
Snape's penetrating stare made Draco squirm.
"Okay." Draco took a deep breath and listed the staggering number of charms he had placed on Granger.
Professor Flitwick frequently huffed and made dramatic inhalations. He muttered a few times under his breath and gestured wildly at Draco to the other professors, expecting them to join him in his outrage.
Professor McGonagall looked befuddled, but Draco understood that while well versed in Charms, she was not an expert and probably did not recognize the more arcane charms he had used.
Professor Sprout nodded in sympathy to Flitwick, then at Draco to show she was paying rapt attention, then at Snape in deference to his taking control of the situation, then at Dumbledore in thanks that he made his way to this portrait to aid in the rescuing of Miss Granger, then in unification with McGonagall because she was not at all familiar with these complicated charms.
Dumbledore was whispering to someone on his left that Draco couldn't see. He caught Blaise's eye and nodded toward the frame. Draco knew when Blaise realized what he was seeing when a goofy grin took over his face. He stood behind the professors and did a tiny happy dance that only Draco and Snape could see.
Snape was not amused.
Draco barely held on to his straight face as Flitwick started grilling him on his choice of charms.
"Please tell me why you placed an atmospheric charm on Miss Granger?"
"So it would never rain on her." When that was met with silence, he added, "It could snow. She likes snow."
"Then why the impervious charm?"
"Water doesn't only arrive in the form of rain."
"The unusually strong protection spell is self-explanatory, I suppose. As is the repeating Cheering Charm. Hmmm. I didn't know you and Miss Granger had that sort of relationship."
"Didn't you know? They're betrothed," Blaise loudly whispered.
Dumbledore snorted from the frame. "Miss Granger would like it known that she did not agree to that."
Flitwick looked startled at the interruption and the news.
"Well, that gives the intention of these charms a new spin. Let us continue. You have a renewable cleaning charm on Miss Granger? Why ever would you do that?"
Draco blushed. "She tends to get smudges of ink on her hands, which she transfers to her face. She…she did not learn to write with a quill and ink until she came to Hogwarts. Muggle writing instruments are apparently more…contained. That is what she learned to write with, and that is why she does not automatically cast a cleaning charm like children born into wizarding families are taught to do. In us it is ingrained, for Granger it is an afterthought that she occasionally forgets."
"Anti-theft charm?"
"Seriously? So no one could steal her things."
"I am quite disturbed that you have an entrancing enchantment on Miss Granger. Those are not taught at Hogwarts with good reason, Mr. Malfoy."
"Well, I needed her undivided attention."
"That is an insufficient excuse."
"Fine, I needed her undivided attention so I could convince her to use her influence to force the Order of the Phoenix to accept me so I could fight the Dark Lord until one or the other of us dies."
Draco stopped, undid his fly, and let his trousers drop.
The professors were all distressed until they saw the deep, painful-looking scar that ran from Draco's upper thigh to his knee. Then they were distressed for another reason.
"Minerva, stop blushing," Sprout whispered to McGonagall as though the whole room couldn't hear her. "It's not like he isn't wearing nether garments!"
Point made, Draco replaced and refastened his trousers. "Death eaters think it's fun to torture each other with magical slicing spells. I, however, do not wish to subject my otherwise god-like body to their sadistic whims. Shall we move on?"
Flitwick cleared his throat and referred to his notes.
"Yes...hmmm. Feather-light charm?"
"She kept forgetting to put one on her rucksack. Was I supposed to just sit back and watch her turn herself into a hunched old woman?"
"Of course we already knew about the Trace, which must have been modified in this case to stick to a seventeen-year-old. We shall discuss the modification later."
Draco looked smug. It was quite ingenious of him.
"The most disturbing on the list, to me, is the highly illegal Somnambulist charm, Mr. Malfoy."
"She was never hurt!" Draco exclaimed. "It's just that sometimes I needed to be able to see her in the middle of the night, so I placed the recurring charm on her. It's not like I could sneak into Gryffindor Tower and finagle my way up the stairs to check on her for myself! She had to come to me! I immediately returned her to her room after I was satisfied that she was fine."
The professors gave each other disturbed glances.
"She never woke up!"
That utterance did not help his case.
"Gripping charm?"
"I am trying to prevent her from ever dropping her wand, especially if she may need to defend herself."
"Seems superfluous considering the number of protection spells you have on her, Draco," commented Blaise.
"Apparently all those protection spells didn't protect her well enough! Look where she is!" McGonagall cried in exasperation.
Everyone was quiet for a moment, and Draco started to feel guilty again.
No! This was not his fault. As Flitwick was inadvertently proving, Draco was doing everything in his power to protect Granger.
"Is this interrogation finished?" Snape challenged. "We have deduced which charm is connecting Miss Granger to someone outside the portrait, and we know who that person is, and we know his intentions were honorable. Shall we now work to extract the girl?"
"Well said, Severus," Dumbledore called. He turned to portrait Draco and asked him to retrieve some books, then turned in another direction. "Hermione, please take out your wand."
"It won't work," Flitwick morosely said. "She'd have to have access to her magic-"
"She does," Portrait Draco said absently as he delivered the Headmaster's books.
Everyone stared at the painting.
"What? She does!" he defended. "She's been decorating like a bored trophy wife ever since she realized she could conjure things." He laughed and added, "Granger would like me to inform you that she takes umbrage with my depiction of any woman as a trophy. And that such women would not have full lives and aspirations that do not require interior decorating. And apparently I'm an asshole!" He grinned broadly at the group.
"We can't see the objects! What has she conjured?" McGonagall asked, her curiosity tickled.
Portrait Draco ignored the question in favor of being Granger's mouthpiece.
"She wishes for you to know that she has finally mastered changing a turtle into a tortoise. Why she thought that was hard is anyone's guess."
Everyone witnessed Portrait Draco's head snap forward as though someone had smacked the back of his head.
"She says I deserved that," he mumbled as he fixed his hair.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Young love."
"Oh, barf," said Blaise. "Seriously, I'm hungry. Can we get on with this?"
"Indeed," agreed Sprout, who immediately looked embarrassed for agreeing with the student.
"Mr. Malfoy, please take out your wand as well," the Headmaster requested.
He did as asked.
"Point it at my finger." Dumbledore moved his hand to the side and extended his index finger, then moved it away when Draco was correctly aimed.
Draco watched in fascination as Flitwick strengthened the impervious charm then cast an unknown charm alongside it…around it…into it.
Draco was jealous of the tiny professor. He didn't know that one.
Draco was startled out of his contemplation by a tug on his magic.
"What's happening?" he asked in a panic.
"I changed your charm into a…different charm," he announced with a bit of sneaky pride in his voice.
"What charm?" he asked with suspicion.
"Never you mind," Flitwick deflected.
"You might want to back up," suggested McGonagall.
"Why?"
"To ensure that you get her out of the painting instead of allowing yourself to be sucked in."
Draco recoiled from the frame.
"Granger says she can feel it, too!" Portrait Draco informed the room.
"Excellent," Flitwick clapped his hands twice in joy.
Everyone looked around the room at everyone else.
Time marched on.
"Am I supposed to do something?" Draco asked.
"Be quiet," ordered Snape.
Everyone looked around the room at everyone else, quietly.
Draco was suddenly yanked towards the portrait, and Blaise lunged for his friend, helping him hold his ground.
"Its like magical fucking tug-of-war!" he yelled.
The combined strength of the two young men kept Draco in place, and soon the canvas reliquified at the bottom right corner where Draco had trained his wand.
"Oh, dear!" McGonagall hurried to the frame. "Someone retrieve Madam Pomfrey! With haste!"
A/N:
A couple questions:
Is the language too strong for a T rating? I got a review that seemed bothered by the language. Having spent way the hell too much time around teenage boys I am quite accurate with that dialogue, especially when they don't have adult supervision. To be clear, I will not be changing the language, but I would change the rating of the story if many of you reading this think it should be rated M. I don't want to offend anyone, and if it is inappropriate to use actual swear words in a T-rated story, please let me know. Or that particular reader is more sensitive to swearing than I am, and it is fine as it is.
Who should the headmaster be? Since it is an AU, I thought of yanking an unexpected character into the role.
Have a great week, faithful readers!