AN: Several readers have expressed concerns regarding Draco caring only about all things Gryffindor and that he is neglecting his Slytherin obligations. We will just say this...ALL IN GOOD TIME. We have not forgotten about Severus or Regulus and neither has Draco. Everything that is happening now is a lead-up for what is to happen later, so doncha worry!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Thanks

CHAPTER 25: DOUBTS

That nameless, faceless beast was getting closer and closer now, its mouth making terrible noises as it breathed. Its eyes were bulging red and its teeth pointed and sticking out of its mouth. Draco tried to scream as it came at him, but no sound came out. He was completely left alone in the dark, wandless and afraid. It's just a dream, he kept telling himself. All you have to do is wake up and it will all be over. But the beast was now transforming before his eyes.

What was once an ugly, colourless evil, now became a beautiful, skeletal horse with skinny wings at its sides and no fangs whatsoever. Its eyes were not bulging and red like the beast's, but rather warm and soulful. And it wasn't making any scarring noises. In fact, it was looking at him like it understood him and praised him, just like he would like to be understood and praised. It was looking right into his very soul.

"OY!" Sirius shouted in his face.

Draco's eyes flew open.

"COME ON, MAN, I'VE BEEN TRYIN' TO WAKE YOU FOR TEN MINUTES ALREADY!"

"Would you please stop yelling?" Draco muttered, his hands covering his eyes to shield himself from the blinding light in the room.

"HE'S NOT YELLING..." said James's voice from faraway.

"Ugh, you guys are so loud," Draco repeated, moaning into his hands and wishing for the light to just go away already.

"Are you okay?" Remus was now saying, in a sort of muffled voice.

A cold hand was brought to Draco's forehead.

"Jeez, you're burning up, mate!"

"Should...should we get him up to the hospital wing?"

"Yeah, as if Madame Pomfrey will have anything useful for once..."

"HEY, don't insult her, that woman has performed miracles, such that you would never even dream of—"

"Okay guys, not the point...our buddy here has fallen sick."

"GUYS, I'M FINE!" Draco finally shouted, sitting up straight, eyes wide and finally seeing, mandrake leaf falling as he wiped at his mouth and stared at his friends.

The four boys were standing before him, some still in pajamas and some fully dressed, all looking startled.

"Hey, if you say so," said Sirius, smirking.

Draco rolled his eyes at him and sunk back into his pillow. If there was one thing he hated more than anything, it was getting up early.

"No, no, up you go!" Sirius cried, pulling Draco back up. "Come on, man, we're actually gonna be late!"

"What time is it?" Draco groaned, finally getting up from the bed and starting to pull off his shirt.

"Nearly half past," James answered from the doorway. "Seriously, hurry up, you turtles."

Draco finally dressed and started for the dormitory door when Sirius placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. Draco spun to see Sirius holding out his palm facing up, with the mandrake leaf resting on top.

"You forgot something," he said, smiling.

"Oh just leave it alone, already," Remus said, but Draco took it in his mouth without a word and followed James out the door.

He'd been right. They were seriously going to be late. There was virtually no one left in the common room and the sun outside was well on its way to the highest point. The boys scrambled out through the portrait hole quickly and hurried down the corridor and out of Gryffindor Tower. By the time they reached the Entrance Hall, the last of the crowd was making its way out into the chilly grounds.

"You guys better put your hats on!" Peter exclaimed, throwing his own hat over his head and fixing it nicely.

Draco shivered from the cold, which seemed to be doing a great job at waking him, and simply tightened the scarf around his neck. He didn't need bundling up too much. He'd always been immune to extremely cold weather.

"All this snow couldn't come at a more opportune time," Sirius declared, his tongue sticking out so he could collect snowflakes on it.

"Guys, I'm getting hungry, we should hurry up before all the tables at the Three Broomsticks fill up," James said, taking the lead. "And Sirius, grow up, man."

Sirius punched his shoulder hard but James did not reciprocate.

The two of them were walking ahead together while Draco, Remus and Peter followed behind, with Remus in the middle.

"Come on, man!" Sirius cried to get James's attention but James only told him to cut it out and sped up a little more. Sirius glanced back at the others with a grin and ran on after him.

"You didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, did you?" Remus asked Peter.

"No," Peter answered, shaking his head. "I have no idea what's going on with him!"

Remus looked round at Draco. "You?"

Draco's head snapped up. "What?"

Remus sighed and looked ahead again. "Never mind."

By the time they reached the end of the hill, it was safe to say that the village was positively packed from corner to corner. Every square inch of every shop from every corner was covered with at least three people standing on top of each other and yelling that they found that item first or they'd had dibs on that other item before. Just when Draco began to wonder what was all the fuss about, it hit him that this might be the last Hogsmeade Weekend before Christmas, which meant that everyone was doing their holiday shopping now.

"Why can't people just wait until the last minute like the rest of us?" Sirius complained as they finally managed to make it into the Three Broomsticks, which of course, was packed completely.

One of the waitresses kindly informed them that it'd be a twenty minute wait, and so they got stuck hanging around the door.

"Better in here than out there where it's cold," Remus offered, but he was thoroughly ignored by the other boys. James still seemed upset over whatever and Sirius was grinning more now than ever. Peter was looking positively confused from what was going on and Draco was still pondering over his nightmare and how ridiculous yet so real it had been.

"We're supposed to have one more Hogsmeade weekend before the holidays," Peter was now saying, "But everything is really cheap now so that's why it's so crowded today. It'll get more expensive in a week or two."

Draco nodded along, barely listening to what anybody was saying.

Once their table was finally ready and their meals finally ordered, James excused himself to go to the bathroom and disappeared for a good ten minutes.

"What do you guys reckon?" Sirius said finally. "He died in there?"

"Dude, shut up and go check on him!" Remus cried, provoking a laugh out of Sirius.

"Alright, alright," he said, getting up from the table and heading to the back.

"That guy won't amount to more than a bartender if he keeps it up like this," Remus said mostly to himself.

"Who, Sirius?" said Peter.

Remus glanced at Draco and shook his head slowly. Draco smiled softly.

"Oh, there's Professor McGonagall!" Peter cried out, suddenly jumping from the table, fixing up his hair and running out of the bar.

Remus turned in his seat to watch his friend for a few minutes and then turned back to Draco.

"He's really nervous about that paper he had to write last week," he explained. "Been bothering her about it every chance he got—hey listen, are you alright?"

"Mhm," Draco said, shrugging.

"You don't look well," Remus observed.

"I'm not sick," Draco mumbled, the leaf on his tongue making him seriously question how he would eat his food when it finally arrived.

"Well I'm not questioning your health here," Remus said. "More like your mental state."

"You calling me mental?" said Draco finally.

Remus laughed. "Nah, just...you look like you've got a lot on your mind." Draco looked up at him. "What's going on?"

There was a long pause, in which Draco seriously wondered whether or not Remus would understand if he told him. It was easy now, in broad daylight, to think back on the dream and say how ridiculous it was, but...

"Alright, here you go, young men," said the waitress, finally arriving at their table with five full plates floating behind her. She waved her wand and they settled themselves on the table neatly.

"Thanks a lot," Remus told her.

"Enjoy!" she said, winking at Draco before retreating to the bar.

Remus turned his head to watch her go and then smirked at Draco. "I think she likes you."

Draco shrugged this off. His mind was completely boggled this morning.

"So you're looking forward to your lesson with Dumbledore tonight?" Remus asked casually.

"Mhm," Draco said, nodding at his plate.

"Watcha gonna be learning?"

Draco looked up, frowning. "That's really up to Dumbledore, not me."

"No I know," said Remus, "I just...I dunno, I thought maybe he lets you have a say in it from time to time..."

"No," Draco mumbled, looking back down. "He doesn't."

Remus nodded. "Well...will there be any upcoming games for you to concentrate on?"

Draco shook his head and mumbled, barely audibly, "Gryffindor isn't set to play till after the holidays."

Remus nodded again. He looked around the bar, looking bored, and then finally settled his eyes on Draco and sighed. "So, you wanna tell me now what's bothering you or wait until the next time we're alone?"

Draco let out a laugh, and then, realizing how right Remus was, he pulled the leaf to the side of his mouth and immediately jumped into the tale, not missing a single detail in his retell. And Remus listened carefully without interrupting, a concentrated look on his face. When Draco was finally done, Remus had comprehension written all over his face.

"I can see where you'd be worried," he began, his voice full of expertise, "But it was only just a dream."

"And a very random one at that," Draco pitched in. "I mean, I have no idea what would have brought this on."

"I have some idea," said Remus. Draco sat up and Remus smiled. "Oh come on, you honestly don't see it?" Draco shook his head. Remus leaned forward, lowering his voice slightly. "You've been really hard at work and concentrated on this animagus thing lately—I'm sure it's all you've been thinking about. And the meditation can really get to your head. I assume you've been meditating regularly?"

Draco nodded. "Every night before bed."

"It totally makes sense," Remus assured him. "It's not that random for you to start having dreams about what your animagus could possibly amount to, even though I think it's safe to say that you and I both know what it'll end up being."

Draco checked over his shoulder again before replying, very quietly, "You see that's what I'm afraid of!"

"What do you mean?" Remus frowned.

"You haven't told the others what my patronus is," Draco stated.

"W-well no, I thought you would..." Remus started, but Draco snapped his fingers.

"See? They haven't got a clue! And when they find out they'll probably start asking me questions...like...like about death a-and stuff..."

"So?" said Remus.

"You...ugh, you don't get it."

"No, I really don't," said Remus. "Draco, you're being ridiculous. Having a thestral as your patronus and even as your animagus does not mean that you have seen death. I mean you haven't seen death, have you?"

Draco looked up at him in alarm. "No, of course not."

"So then I don't see what you're so worried about," said Remus, simply. "And it's not like the guys will judge you. Hell, Peter is a rat and we don't judge him!"

Draco sighed. He supposed Remus was right, but he still didn't think he'd very much like the idea of having a thestral for an animagus. Sure, it was a beautiful creature and all, but it just wasn't him.

He sighed again and looked at Remus.

"You know you sound a lot like Dumbledore most of the time," he said.

Remus blushed slightly before growing very serious. "You've talked to Dumbledore about this?"

"Well he taught me the Patronus Charm, but—oh god no, he doesn't know anything about that," he said quickly.

Remus nodded. "Good, good...best we keep it that way. The last thing we need around here is for Dumbledore to know that these three idiots are animagi and that you're on your way to becoming one as well."

Peter finally rejoined them at the table, his body shivering slightly.

"Did you get a hold of her?" Remus asked.

Peter nodded and rubbed his hands together to keep warm. "James and Sirius not back yet?"

"Yeah, I thought they were hungry..." Remus's voice trailed off at the sight of the two boys coming out of the washroom and joining them back at the table.

"Finally!" Sirius cried, grabbing his fork and dipping into his food at once.

Remus, Peter and Draco stared at him and James in shock.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Remus said before Draco could.

"Nothing," James said, shrugging. He glanced at Peter once and then began eating his food too.

Remus met Draco's eyes and they both shook their heads slowly.

At the end of the meal, the boys got up from the table and started to dress. James claimed he needed to get something from Zonko's and Sirius wanted to stop by Honeydukes on the way back to the castle. They were already halfway out the door with Peter when Remus and Draco finally finished and started getting up too.

"You feeling a bit better?" Remus asked him, and Draco nodded silently, not sure whether that was the truth or not.

Remus thought for a long minute and then shook his head abruptly. "You shouldn't dwell on dreams so much." Draco looked up at him. "It didn't mean anything."

Draco nodded his head again and his friend patted him on the back once. He had no idea how good it felt to have someone else say that out loud.

That night's lesson with Dumbledore was just as frustrating as the one before it had been, especially since Draco had to take out his leaf completely so as to hide his mission from Dumbledore. This only meant that he'd have to wear it the entire next day without taking it out even for a second, just to make up for the night before. But aside from this, what was even more frustrating was that he wasn't getting anywhere with this legilimancy thing and he was starting to wonder whether he was completely useless in this dark art form. He still couldn't wrap his head around Dumbledore of all people teaching him how to perform it. He'd always reckoned that adult Snape would have been the person to teach him this. But sadly, adult Snape wasn't around to teach Draco, and his younger version wasn't either, come to think of it.

Ever since the match, Snape had mysteriously disappeared. He was never anywhere at the same time that Draco was, and in classes, he sat way on the other side as usual so as to avoid crossing paths with Draco. But Draco wasn't giving up. He knew that he would get his moment of confrontation. He'd make sure of it.

As Christmas slowly drew nearer and the homework piles grew heftier, the weather became chillier and snowier, making the Christmas spirit very much alive throughout the castle. Dumbledore had ordered the Christmas trees up in the Great Hall and within a matter of hours they were all decorated and lit up festively. Every inch of the Gryffindor common room was decorated in red or green or gold, with mini colourful lights hung beautifully along the ceiling and walls. The grand Christmas tree put up in the common room was already sporting a few nicely decorated presents underneath, and as the days passed, more collected.

With all this Christmas spirit suddenly booming in the castle, Draco realized that he couldn't run away from the fact that he still didn't have a date to this Slug Club party thing, and by the looks of it, neither did Remus. They both pretended like it wasn't a big deal and they hadn't noticed, but time was running out quickly.

Draco supposed that this normally wouldn't be that difficult of a task if he didn't have a mandrake leaf stuck to his tongue, thus making him mumble like an idiot. Just the thought of asking a girl—any girl—out to this thing when he couldn't even talk properly was...revolting.

But all was well and no one seemed to be paying attention to this at all...until December 10.

James came into the common room all happy and thrilled for the first time in a full week, and Draco and the others instantly sat up, knowing that whatever this was, it was going to be real good.

"What's up?" Sirius said at once, expecting some marvelous tale of a glorious adventure.

"Nothing," said James, simply. "Can't a man be happy with his life?"

"Not when he's been sulking around for the last week like someone's died," said Remus. "What's going on, man?"

James sighed and smiled again, sitting back on the couch and looking quite at peace.

"I just found out some rather relieving news is all."

"Yeaah...?" said Sirius.

"You know that thing that had me ticked off last week?" James said to him. Comprehension suddenly slapped Sirius in the face and he grinned widely.

"Oh?"

"Well let's just say...it's been taken care of."

"By yours truly?" said Sirius, grinning stupidly.

"Guys, what the hell is going on?" said Remus, suddenly fed up. "Seriously, enough with the secrets! Will you just tell us already?"

James and Sirius both laughed and then Sirius turned to look at the others.

"Prongs here was having a little bit of a fit because he thought Lily asked some kid out to this Slug Club Christmas thing..."

"She did?" said Draco.

"Nope, it was just a rumour," James said happily.

"Who...?" said Remus.

"That blonde bloke from Hufflepuff...what's his name?" said Sirius, snapping his fingers as he tried to remember.

"Johnny Smithers," James hissed, looking disgusted.

"So...you're hoping that she'll ask you then?" Remus asked, looking slightly terrified at James's reaction to his suggestion.

"Pffft no," said James, to his and everyone else's surprise. "I'm just, you know, keeping to myself...not trying to get my hopes up about anything..."

"So yes basically," Sirius answered Remus's question.

"Shut up," James told him and Sirius laughed again.

Draco sat back, his eyes on his Potions book again and a frown on his face.

"And speaking of," James said, raising his voice slightly, "Are you two ever gonna pluck up the courage already and get yourselves dates for that night?"

Remus suddenly got very busy with his shoelace and Draco simply shrugged. As he'd thoroughly predicted, Frank didn't waste any time in asking Alice because literally the day right after he'd received his invitation, Draco saw the two of them laughing about how fun that evening was going to be. And since Draco wasn't really familiar with any other girls in his year (or at least, in Gryffindor), he was starting to think that he might have to go stag, as embarrassing as that would be.

"Who you going with?" Sirius suddenly asked Remus.

Remus looked up and shrugged slightly. "I haven't...I mean I...I don't know yet."

"Well you'd better hurry up, mate, before it's too late," Sirius said.

"Hey speaking of late, where on earth is Wormtail?" said James, suddenly sitting up and looking around the common room. "It's nearly curfew."

"I dunno," Sirius shrugged, grabbing an apple from a nearby fruit basket and biting into it. "Have you got the map with you?"

The boys paused.

"He does, actually," Remus said.

"Ah, I'm sure it's nothing," said Sirius, dismissively. "Probably went off to bug McGonagall again—you know, she really is taking her precious time with that paper of his."

When Peter finally returned to the common room, he looked all flushed and nervous. He immediately excused himself to bed and was already snoring when the boys went up to the dormitory two hours later. The boys easily dismissed this and pretended like nothing happened when they met up at breakfast next day. But that night, as all things eventually do, everything became clear to everyone.

The boys were doing homework again near the fireplace and Draco and Remus were in the middle of a very intense session of quizzing each other on Chapter 12 of the Transfiguration book when Lily suddenly walked up to their table from her little corner.

"Hey Lily," said Remus at once.

"Hey," she answered, smiling. "I just wanted to ask if maybe you'd want to revise together tomorrow afternoon."

"Yeah for sure," said Remus. "I need you to look over my Runes essay."

"And I need your notes for chapter 28 in Arithmancy," she responded. "You remember I was out sick the day we covered that."

Remus nodded.

"Great so I'll see you at the library then? Around five?" Lily said, ignoring the fact that James was watching her right now as intently as though she were talking to him and not Remus, careful not to miss a word she was saying.

"Yep, sounds like a plan," said Remus.

"Hey Evans," said Sirius, suddenly crossing his legs like a puppy and grinning up at her. "You weren't actually going to take a sleazeball like Smithers to Slughorn's Christmas party, were you?"

Lily turned her head to look at him. "That sleazeball happens to be a really nice guy—but no, I wasn't."

"Huh," said Sirius. "Wonder where all the rumours came from then."

"What rumours?" said Lily at once.

But Sirius only waved her off and sat back. "Doesn't matter anyway—it's not like you'd have the guts to ask anyone to this thing."

A mischievous smile itched its way onto Lily's face and she crossed her arms. "As a matter of fact, funny you should say that…" Sirius turned to look at her, amazed.

"Well how about that," he said. "So who'd you end up asking? Reese? Fred? Oh, that dark haired guy in Ravenclaw with the zit on his nose?"

"Shut up, Sirius Black!" Lily cried suddenly. "You know, you're not even going to this thing so I don't see why you care."

"Hey," said Sirius, suddenly getting to his feet, his apple core falling to the table. "Any chance to have a laugh, no?"

Lily glared at him and then, within seconds, she was chasing him about the common room, yelling threats and trying to catch him while he laughed and tripped over students' books and things.

Remus laughed too as he watched them, but neither Draco nor James were laughing, as both their eyes were on Peter, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, frown on his face, looking as though he wished he could transform into the rat right there and then.

"Peter?" said James.

Peter swallowed loudly and took a deep breath before looking up at him.

"I-I'm the one...who she asked to the party..."

"Calm down about it already," Sirius said, rolling his eyes at James who continued to glare at Lily from the other end of the Gryffindor table two days later.

"Fucking ridiculous," James muttered under his breath while stabbing his eggs with his fork, his eyes on Lily all the while.

She was laughing with a couple of girls about something and completely oblivious to how mad James had been at her for the last two days. Sirius turned to look at Draco and shook his head. And he was right to, too. It was official—James had lost it. He had truly, truly lost it.

"I mean it's so stupid, anyway," he was saying now, his eyes still on Lily, "She knows that I know about the party because you lot were invited and you're my friends...she knows that I know you lot are supposed to bring guests, and then she up and asks one of my friends instead of me. Like, you see how ridiculous this is, right?" He turned to Remus and raised his eyebrows.

"Mhm," said Remus, who appeared to be hardly listening as he scammed the Morning Prophet.

Disappointed, James looked to Sirius.

"Yeah," said Sirius at once, feigning agreement. "Definitely."

James looked at Draco. "You at least see what's going on here, don't you?"

Draco raised his own eyebrows, waiting.

"She's baiting me!" James cried out. Some second years sitting nearby jumped in their seats from how frightened they got.

"James, calm down," said Sirius, but James was clearly not listening, as his eyes went back to Lily.

"She's doing this on purpose—I can tell she is," he said.

Draco and Sirius sighed in unison and busied themselves with their plates. It was pointless arguing. James was going to believe whatever James wanted to believe and they'd be stupid to try and convince him otherwise. At least Peter was not there that morning—that made things slightly easier.

Ever since finding out that Lily had asked Peter to the Slug Christmas party, James hadn't shown any sign of resentment towards his friend or even anger. In fact, he acted like everything was fine and he wasn't frustrated. He had the courtesy to only show his true feelings about this when Peter wasn't with them, so as not to make him feel bad. Knowing Peter, Draco was sure the kid was beyond thrilled that someone—even Lily Evans—had asked him out, even if it was just as friends. But still, that did not stop Draco from blurting out to her the second they bumped into each other in the hall on the way to class,

"Since when have you had the hots for Peter Pettigrew?"

Lily rolled her eyes at him but only walked away, her books clutched tightly under her arms. When she reached the end of the stairwell, they predictably clambered out of her arms and all over the stone-hard floor. Draco looked around the nearly deserted corridor, sighed deeply, and walked over to help her pick them up, all while slowly shifting the mandrake leaf (which was starting to feel really weird) to the side of his mouth so that he could speak audibly for two or three minutes.

"You know, if you weren't so careless, people would be much happier," he muttered, handing Lily Advanced Potion Making.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped, grabbing as many books as she could without his help.

"Just what it sounds like," Draco answered, piling more books into her arms. "If you don't drop your stuff, I don't have to help you pick them up, and then James doesn't have to see me helping you clean them up, and then I don't have to go convincing James that there's nothing going on between us."

Lily let out a cold laugh. "Between us? Don't humour me."

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"That's absurd," Lily added, now kneeling back up and adjusting some of the books so that they wouldn't fall.

"Is it, now?" said Draco. "Because you go around preaching that you're all quiet and innocent and you haven't ever been with anyone, but then there go these three guys completely head over heels for you—"

"It's not my fault that they're head over heels for me," she suddenly interrupted. "I'm not going to stop taking care of myself just so that these guys could get over themselves—"

"No, better to have an army of worshippers at your service, right?" said Draco, handing her the last book and turning to go.

"Hey," she called after him.

He turned back.

"You said three," she said, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face.

Draco rolled his eyes at her and walked away. Three, five, seven—what did it matter, really?

By the time Draco got to Charms class, he realized how much this whole thing with Peter actually angered him. Lily asking him, even if it was just as friends, was a bigger deal than she thought, because James was right—she was either baiting him or playing some other game in general. As far as Draco knew, he'd only seen her talk to Peter twice (maybe three) times that year alone. And suddenly, she had this mad interest to take him as her date for the party?

No. Something else was definitely going on here.

As per usual, Draco attended the Charms lesson but did not hear a word of what Flitwick said. At the end of the lesson, Draco quickly hurried away from the Marauders so that he could find the one person he knew he had to take to this thing—the only person he'd go with, really. It was either going to be her, or no one. It was already mid-December and he'd still only gotten acquainted with three girls in Gryffindor…he wasn't about to take someone he'd never even spoken to, even if he had many admirers.

"Honestly, you could just take your pick and they'd go with you," Sirius had told him the previous night when they'd scoured the halls for suitables.

It was funny, Draco hadn't noticed it before, but girls who passed by him, especially Gryffindor ones, were always blushing furiously or giggling or whispering and looking at him with shy smiles. He'd been so preoccupied with the trillion amount of things he had on his list to even notice this marvelous fact. Never, in all seventeen years that he'd been alive, had he ever received this much attention from the female population.

The things he could do with this...

He finally located the person he was looking for, sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall with a book propped up against the orange juice pitcher. Draco did not hesitate as he walked over to the table and took a seat.

"Oh, hey," Mary said, looking up at him with a kind smile. "How are you?"

"Do you want to come to the Slug party with me next week?" Draco blurted out, breathless.

Mary's eyes went slightly round.

"...as friends, of course..." Draco added, quite unsubtly.

Mary let out a small laugh. "I...wow..."

"I just, I dunno I thought maybe you'd like to come," Draco added.

"I...don't know..." Mary said, looking down. "I'm not sure I'd have anyone to talk to there."

"Sure you would," said Draco quickly. "Lily will be there. A bunch of people from Ravenclaw too."

Mary looked up, surprised. "What makes you think I'm interested in the Ravenclaws?"

Draco shrugged. "I dunno, I pegged you as a Ravenclaw when I first met you."

Mary laughed. "That's odd..."

"Anyway, will you go?"

There was a pause.

"Well what about...I mean..." Mary suddenly reddened slightly. "I can't decide this."

Draco offered a smile. "It's not a marriage proposal…I'm not offering you some life or death ultimatum. I'm a friend, asking another friend to accompany me to a night that I unfortunately can't get out of. And misery loves company, so will you do me the great favour of coming with me?"

Mary laughed again. "I'm sorry but I can't decide this right now. I need to...can I get back to you?"

Draco smiled. "Absolutely—you know where to find me."

Mary smiled too.

But the rest of the week passed and still, Draco didn't hear anything back from her. He was starting to wonder whether asking her had been a mistake—she had all these trust issues with people that he really didn't want to get in the way of—but then Monday rolled around and before he knew it, it was time for his afternoon free period. And that could only mean one thing. Without thinking twice about it, Draco collected all his things from Astronomy, bid Remus and Peter farewell as they headed off to their next classes, and hurried as quickly as he could, pushing past the slow crowds in the hallways.

Just when he turned the corner to the seventh floor corridor, the idea hit him that Severus might actually not show up. But then the idea faded just as quickly at the sight of him sitting in his usual spot, cross-legged and head bent over the Half Blood Prince's book. Draco stopped at the end of the corridor, smiled of relief, and then hurried to Severus's side. Severus looked up at him, shock plastered on his face.

"I..."

"...didn't think you'd see me?" Draco said, sitting next to him. "Yeah well, evidently, you don't know me well yet. I'm fearless, Severus. I have no problem saying what I think to anyone's face."

Severus swallowed nervously.

"And I have a mouthful to say to you," Draco added, crossing his own legs and looking Severus in the eye. Severus only nodded, preparing for the worst. "You need to cut this worship crap already, okay?"

Severus stared at Draco. "W-what?"

"I'm serious, it's creeping me the fuck out!" Draco continued. "Honestly, I'd prefer it if you just went back to being that stuck-up, not-afraid-to-say-anything-to-anyone kid I met earlier this year."

"But—"

"And it's really creepy, man, the way you're following me around like some lost puppy dog, willing to do anything and everything I say? I mean—" he let out a nervous laugh, "—I'm no Wilkes! And I certainly don't want to be, so just...cool it off, okay?"

"I don't understand," said Severus, suddenly. He sat up. "I thought...I mean I...I honestly thought you'd come here and yell at me about what went down two weeks ago..."

"Oh you mean the match?" said Draco. "Well, I guess it hasn't hit me yet…you know, quite the betrayal...I'm sure within a few hours it'll really hit me and I'll have no choice but to punch you in the face."

Severus let out a laugh and looked down. "Listen, I honestly did not mean for it to happen."

"Sure," said Draco, pretending to agree.

"I just...I only told Regulus, I swear no one else, he took care of the rest, it was all him."

Draco sighed deeply. It was so Slytherin of Severus to put the blame on someone else—it was exactly the sort of thing that Draco himself used to do, but now that he was a Gryffindor, the values that came with the house were starting to rub off on him and he was becoming a lot more…nice, as much as he hated admitting that. It was revolting, really. But a cover story was a cover story.

"So...you shared everything with Regulus then," Draco said instead, his hands rolled into fists at his sides.

"Yeah," said Severus. "And I wasn't going to, honestly...but..."

Draco looked up at him. "But what?"

"Well...he's not been doing well ever since Wilkes..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah...and also since you're not talking to him now..."

"Whoa," said Draco, at once, "Back up there a second—he's the one not talking to me, not the other way around!"

"It doesn't matter, Draco, the point is that he's really beat up about it and I felt bad for the poor kid, he's not been himself in a while now...and he had a game coming up whereas all these moves were useless to me...I did what anyone in my situation would have done and if I had to, I would do it again."

Draco looked down.

"So...he's really doing bad?"

Severus hesitated. "I think you should talk to him."

Draco looked away. Regulus was just that one regret in his life right now which did not need more complicating. He was so afraid that he'd fucked up the kid far beyond repair, he'd rather do ten legilimancy lessons in a row than go and have that talk with him. He looked up at Severus again.

"I have to admit, I didn't know how to react when I saw your team showcasing my moves…the moves that I taught you, with an understanding that they'd be just between us."

"I know," said Severus quietly. "And if you want to punch me in the face, go ahead." Draco waited. "I have been looking out for Regulus ever since the beginning, unlike his brother. I will continue to look out for him until the very end."

Draco frowned at these words, wondering exactly what the end would be…if he was correct in guessing, then Regulus's demise was scheduled for the end of his last year at Hogwarts, which left Draco two years from now to try and save him from this terrible fate. Just thinking about it made his head spin—that he had more responsibility for this kid's life than even Dumbledore could know.

He looked up at Severus now.

"The night of the full moon," he began, acknowledging it for the first time since, "Back in the Shrieking Shack, your wand broke. It snapped, I saw it."

Severus looked away.

"I saw it, Severus, it broke and then in the woods you had another, perfectly unbroken wand at your service!" He eyed Severus carefully. "Talk, Severus."

The boy looked up. "I'm not the only Slytherin with a few wands at his service, you know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that we have to protect ourselves, okay? And wands, they break. They snap. It happens. You can't go walking around with just one wand and rely on the fact that everything is going to be okay. You've gotta have backup."

"From what?" said Draco, at once. "What are you so afraid of? What backup do you need? Against what?"

Severus leaned forward. "We're in the middle of a national war, in case you haven't noticed. Death Eaters are targeting just as much as they are being targeted. It's not safe to walk the streets...especially if you're a Slytherin."

"Funny, I'd think it was the other way around," said Draco. "Mudbloods have it worse now than anyone else."

Severus frowned at hearing Draco using such a crude word, and so, in an attempt to steer the direction to less dangerous routes, he added, "Look, I understand why you did what you did with the match and with Regulus. I would have done the same thing, no less..." he leaned forward. "But those moves that I taught you, showing people that...that was a dangerous move."

Severus looked like he wanted to ask why but instead nodded his head and gave Draco an encouraging smile.

"You may be a Gryffindor or whatever, but you're a lot like the rest of us Slytherins."

Draco smiled too. He couldn't help it. Slytherin was in his blood, no matter what any talking hat said now.

He felt a lot better after his talk with Severus because it meant that first, they were no longer avoiding each other, and second, Severus was back to his usual, normal self and Draco didn't need to feel like a Wilkes replacement anymore. At least something was going his way in this timeline.

And speaking of things going his way, by Tuesday, James and Sirius announced that Draco was ready to take out his leaf for good. He felt so completely relieved to do that—the leaf had been a nuisance the entire three weeks that he'd had it. His meditation was improving with each night too. He was already seeing a shape forming and predictably, it was looking a lot like a large creature with four legs. Draco wasn't sure how he felt about this yet, but he knew there was a shred of hope in him that it would end up being something wicked, wicked cool. The marauders (minus Remus) were already placing their bets on what it would end up being, and according to Remus, they'd done this for each of them too. Draco felt slightly honoured, that they were so invested in what his shape would end up as. It was a strange feeling, too.

But Remus himself was not hiding the fact that he disapproved of Draco's pursuit a great deal. Every time the subject came up, Remus tried to steer it away and talk about something else. Like on Wednesday night for example, three days before the Slug party, James and Sirius were discussing some of their bets with Draco when Remus suddenly decided to break the news that he officially had a date. And of course, as he'd predicted, it caught everyone's attention and they forgot all about Draco's animagus, or at least for the time being.

"Alright, pal!" Sirius cried, patting him on the back once. "So who is it?"

"Her name's Lyra Miller," Remus said. "She's a fifth year in Ravenclaw and yes, we're going as just friends."

Sirius groaned and James winked at Remus. Remus sighed happily and turned to Draco.

"Have you heard back from...?"

Draco shook his head at once and looked down at his Dark Arts book.

"Wait, who?" said Sirius at once, sitting up like an excited puppy. "YOU ASKED SOMEONE?!"

"Whoa man, why didn't you tell us?" said James, whose mood had improved significantly over the last few days, on the grounds that if Lily wanted to play games, he'd play them with her (and 'just as well').

"I...because she said she'd let me know..." Draco mumbled.

Sirius burst into laughter.

"Shut up, Sirius," said James. He turned back to Draco. "Who's this girl and what the hell's wrong with her that she needs to think about it?"

Draco bit his lip, wondering if he should say it or not. He glanced at Remus, who nodded his head once, indicating that he agreed he should. Draco sighed. Remus did know the boys better than him...

"Mary Macdonald."

Sirius's stupid smile faced in an instant.

"M-Mary?" he said, looking puzzled as ever.

"Yeah," said Draco, simply. "I asked her to go with me...as friends."

"Well then," said James, feeling awkward, "I guess that explains why she needs to think about it. We all know Mary's not been herself since...well she's...a cautious girl."

At that moment, some terrified looking third year boy walked up to Draco in the common room and nervously handed him a folded up piece of parchment. Draco frowned at the boy and took it in his hands, but before he could say anything, the boy hurried away. Peter laughed.

Remus was the only one who looked curious as to what the note said as Draco started to unfold it. Meanwhile, James leaned over to Sirius and was now whispering something.

Dear Draco,

Seeing as how you have been invited to Professor Slughorn's annual Christmas dinner this Saturday night, I've decided to move our weekly lesson to Friday night, same time, same place. Kindly make it an effort to attend as it is a crucial lesson indeed. Hope you are doing well,

Dumbledore

Draco shrugged at Remus who gave him a thumbs-up. Then, Sirius sat up again.

"When did you ask Mary?" said Sirius.

"Just last week," said Draco simply, the letter already in his pocket. "Guys, honestly, it's not that surprising. I know all of three girls in Gryffindor and I ain't bloody about to take no Ravenclaw, no offense, Remus."

Remus shook his head dismissively.

"Okay," said Sirius. "Yeah, Mary sounds like a good choice. So, uh, you'll let us know what she says after?"

"Yeah," said Draco, turning back to his book, though with a frown. Sirius did not say another word for the rest of the night.

Draco supposed he could understand it—going after your friend's ex's rarely is the wise thing to do. But he wasn't pursuing her romantically or anything, and he'd even made that clear when he'd asked her. So really, he didn't see anything wrong with the two of them going together. But was that why she had told him she had to think about it? Because of Sirius?

"Don't worry about it so much," James assured him when they were getting ready for bed and Sirius went to brush his teeth. "He just worries about her a great deal but I don't think he's still hung up on her. Come to think of it, he's never hung up on any one girl."

"Even if he was, though," Draco muttered, "She and I hung out a couple of times, sort of...I'd consider her a friend."

"Mhm," said James, pulling his shirt on and ruffling his hair a bit.

"I was initially gonna ask Alice but then I realized she'd rather go with Frank and good for them."

"Yeah," said James, now getting into bed and stretching.

"And then my next thought went to Mary," Draco concluded. He thought for a minute and then laughed. "I mean, better her than Lily, right?"

James's head snapped up quickly and Draco grinned at him.

This never got old.

What do you guys think is stopping Mary? Let us know by commenting below!