Chapter 25: Strange Occurences

Ron wasn't the only student who mysteriously disappeared overnight.

The next morning, as Draco and Harry were leaving his room to go to the Great Hall for breakfast, they ran into Narcissa.

"It seems our insider has revealed himself and gone missing in action as well," she greeted without preamble, checking the dim corridor for anyone who might overhear. "Pansy reported to Severus that Theodore Nott never returned to the Slytherin dormitories last night, nor turned up this morning either."

"Theodore?" Draco said incredulously. "That's a big surprise. He's got about as much intelligence as Crabbe and Goyle."

"Which doesn't say much," Harry remarked ruefully.

"Yes, well, since you switched sides and took all of the equally intelligent Slytherins with you, there wasn't much left to pick from, was there?" Narcissa replied. "Though it was a very good cover because who would take someone like Theodore seriously and pay close attention to him?"

"True," Draco admitted with a sigh. "But Father would have to had been desperate to choose someone like him for something as important as this undoubtedly is."

"That isn't necessarily true either," Harry disagreed, his voice emotionally detached. "Look at the damage Wormtail has done."

Narcissa had difficulty reigning in her pity and regret as such a simple statement. 'The poor boy has gone through so much already...' She looked at Harry, taking in his pale, haggard appearance. 'He probably hasn't had a good night's rest in ages, especially not last night. But very few could be able to sleep well after the experience he and Severus went through."

Something was off though. Narcissa sensed a disturbingly familiar coldness beneath the surface of Harry's ragged demeanor. It bothered her immensely.

"We'll talk about this more later," Narcissa said slowly, coming out of her musings. "Albus, Severus, and I will be looking into matters. We'll know more tonight. But for now, act as if nothing has happened. If anyone asks about Ron, just say that you don't know."

She turned and walked away swiftly towards Snape's newly repaired office, where he and the Headmaster were waiting for her.

"- don't understand how it could have happened." Severus paused, glancing uneasily at the door when Narcissa entered. "You of all people know what type and how many different charms and spells I have used to guard this room."

"From external penetration, yes," Dumbledore replied. "However, the connection already existed and it was between –people- and –Harry-. Short of not having your lesson, and thus not having him enter your office, you could not have avoided it."

Snape did a double take of Narcissa's expression instead of acknowledging the Headmaster. "Is something wrong, Narcissa?"

"I just spoke with Draco and Harry," she answered with a troubled frown. "I conveyed your message to them. However..."

"However?"

"I don't know whether I didn't notice it before because we didn't know what was going on, or if it's a lingering effect from last night, but," Narcissa trailed off, trying to find the correct words to explain. "But, I could feel –him-, like I was speaking to Draco and somebody else. It was like being the same room with the Dark Lord and Lucius at the same time. You would understand if you had been there, Severus. You have been in the same room with them both before, just like me."

"Yes, unfortunately," Snape said, grimacing slightly.

"It is well to be expected, though the strength you imply that their presence gives off is indeed most alarming," Dumbledore assented, concern deepening the lines in his ancient features. "We must inform whom we can on the staff to keep a closer eye on him even though Harry will resent it. We cannot afford any more incidents until we can figure out the remedy to the situation. One slip could prove disastrous to all."

"Draco is with him more often than not. I can talk to him about it," Narcissa added.

The Headmaster hesitated. "If you do, be careful. Our meddling in Harry's life has always been something that sets off his anger quickly."

"You mean –your- meddling in his life," Snape muttered, only loud enough for Narcissa to hear.

"Don't worry, we have our ways of covert communication," Narcissa said with a wane smile.

Draco was having problems concentrating on his Arithmancy lesson. He could feel Hermione's eyes boring into the back of his skull whenever Professor Vector paused in his lecture, rankling his already frayed nerves. He was bothered enough as it was without getting assaulted by staring people.

Sure, Draco knew Hermione was distraught and worried. Who wouldn't be when your best friend possessed a teacher and blew up his office; then your lover being fingered as the cause and going missing with the enemy. He sympathized with her, really he did... But, Merlin, he was –thisclose- to hexing her.

"- we shall have an exam on the chapter's contents next week."

Draco pulled out his agenda to make a note to study, when suddenly flowing, elegant script began to write itself on the page.

'D,

You must keep a sharp eye on H. There may be some arising problems that must be taken care of with extreme caution.

M.'

To anyone else it was an incomprehensible riddle, but Draco understood painfully what his mother was telling him.

In his moment of faltering, Hermione came forward and stood in front of him as the rest of the class filed out. Draco snapped his notebook shut before she could see what was written, because she would know what the cryptic message implied as well.

"Malfoy, we need to talk," Hermione said determinedly, one hand clutching her overstuffed, near bursting school bag while the other rested firmly on her hip.

"What is there to discuss?" he asked irritably, grabbing his things and standing up to leave.

"You know what," she replied tartly.

"Listen, I don't have time for this bollocks. All you're going to do is blame me for everything that's going on, like always," Draco snapped, heading out of the door with her hot on his heels.

"Malfoy! Wait- please?"

Draco halted with a wince. It sounded like Hermione was about to cry. He really hated it when women cried, though not in a coldhearted way, he just had heard his mother do it enough in the past and he really didn't know how to handle it.

"I just... I just need someone. Everyone believes that Harry's turning into a Dark wizard, and Harry hasn't talked to me like he used to for ages. Ron's been on this power trip and I would never have guessed why until... well, you know. And now he's g-g-gone who knows where to V-V-Voldemort-"

Hermione dissolved into tears and couldn't continue, but Draco caught the gist of what she was trying to say. He pulled out his handkerchief to hand it to her, but was thrown back by the weight of Hermione's books as she flew at him and sobbed against his chest. Draco patted her awkwardly on the back, unsure of what else to do.

"Uh, well, what about all those people who were involved in your D.A. group?"

Hermione managed a thick, bitter laugh as she pulled herself together. "Are you kidding? With everyone's families being attacked left and right, no one wants to be associated with an anti-Dark Lord group. You –would- think that they would want to have people they could rely on, but no. Even Neville and Luna have started keeping their distance, Ron chased off Neville a while ago with all this mess he and Seamus stirred up against Harry. Luna's dad is in St. Mungo's for some new unknown, untreatable curse. Ginny has enough to worry about, with all that's happened to her family and having O.W.L.s to study for."

"You're on the verge of a meltdown and you'd rather lost it in front of me instead of bothering Ginny because she might be studying for O.W.L.s?" Draco said in amazement.

"Yes, well... I thought you would understand-"

"I tried during the holidays to forget everything and be friendly, but if I remember correctly, you shot me down," he replied coolly, suddenly defensive.

Hermione's face fell. "I know. I was no better than Ron, but even you have to admit that it was a bit of a shock. Instinctive reaction was to believe the worst," she said, sounding deeply and sincerely apologetic.

"Come on now, I haven't even called you the dirty 'M' word since that day in Diagon Alley," Draco remarked, trying to lighten the mood jestfully so that Hermione wouldn't start crying again.

She smiled waveringly. "Is it too late to say I'm sorry and try again?"

He was opening his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by someone walking up beside them.

"Well, -this- isn't something you see every day."

Looking over at the person, Draco's heart nearly stopped.

For a fleeting second, his mind wildly believed he was staring into the face of his father, but then it was only Harry with an irritated expression. There was no trace of the very Lucius-like sneer he could have sworn was there to be seen.

'I must have been hallucinating,' Draco thought, though it didn't offer any relief. 'Or maybe this is what Mother was warning me about.'

"Is something wrong, Draco?" Harry asked, having caught the flicker of panic in his face. Just that quick, there was nothing but his normal loveable, concerned Harry.

His instinctive quick thinking kicked in. "No, not at all. You just surprised me," Draco replied smoothly, flashing his unfailingly charming smile that he knew Harry couldn't resist. "Hermione and I were just having a nice conversation."

"I noticed that Hell seemed to have frozen over," Harry said, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Yes, I wanted to apologize for how stupid I'd been about things with you two," Hermione explained, seizing the opportunity of having civil words with Harry.

"Took you long enough."

"Come on, Harry, give the poor girl a break," Draco cut in. "She's really trying to make this work. Haven't you all suffered enough?"

Harry's mask of contempt slipped into a look of pain that had become commonplace as of late. The fear that had filled Draco's heart moments before was instantly replaced with the desire to do whatever it took to get rid of his lover's anguish.

"I wish all the time that we could go back to the beginning, before all this, when no one suffered. All the time. But there is no going back and making it right," Harry said bluntly, his hand unconsciously touching his scar as if covering it up would make it go away like a bad dream.

Hermione touched a tentative hand on his arm. "Then why don't we start over? Draco and I are able to, so why can't we?" Her downcast gaze turned toward Draco in a desperate sort of way as she spoke, as if the presence of the former bane of her existence was reassuring.

Considering that at the moment before Harry arrived, she heavily hinted that in becoming her friend, he really was her only means of reassurance in spite of everyone else much closer to her. Scary thought. Who would have known?

'No matter how angry you are, you're a bleeding heart. There's no way you can turn away from her... Is there?' Draco thought uncomfortably, watching Harry's impassive features as he considered the proposition.

It wasn't a long wait.

His attempt at being impassive melted like butter on a hot tin roof; it just wasn't in his nature to act that way for long without a good reason. "Hermione, you know all you had to do was apologize and back off, and I would've forgiven just about anything," he sighed heavily, taking her hand off of his arm and grasping it between his.

Hermione burst into tears again, though with a big watery smile, and hugged him like there was no tomorrow.

'I really, seriously do not understand women,' Draco pondered, thankful that Harry was the target this time instead of his him. 'They cry when they're hurt, they cry when they're happy... How in the hell does that work out?'

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