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Chapter 29-Snarky Old Bat

December had quickly morphed into January and a few changes had taken place at the start of the New Year. First of all, Ron and Hermione were finally a couple. They had found the transition of friendship to romance a little awkward at first and neither was sure how to act around each other. However, in mid-January they realised that they didn't have to act any differently around one another. They had been friends for six years, they already knew about each other's annoying habits and such. So though they still argued quite frequently, they tended to make up a lot quicker with a few kisses and if Ron was a good boy and did all his homework, a little bit of groping.

Another significant change was that Luna had taken to sitting at the Slytherin table during meal times. Shockingly, she got on incredibly well with Pansy, Draco quite liked her despite the fact he understood very little of what she said, Blaise found her unique personality amusing and Theo was totally enamoured with her.

Of course, the Slytherin boy had yet to admit it but everyone could tell that romance would blossom between Theo and Luna very soon. His dorm mates were often subjected to Theo's moans and groans about the blonde Ravenclaw whilst he was dreaming; he'd been talking in his sleep ever since he could form coherent speech.

Then there was Blaise Zabini who obviously had an infatuation for Ginny and the dark-skinned boy was more than happy to own up to it. He seemed to have memorised Ginny's timetable and had recently developed the habit of turning up wherever she happened to be and carrying her bags as he walked her to her classes, consequently arriving late to his own and losing his house a large sum of points.

As of yet, Ginny had not given in to the Slytherin boy's charms. However, she had confided to both Luna and Hermione that she thought Blaise was reasonably good-looking if one liked the tall, dark and handsome thing.

Most of her fifth year friends had advised her to steer clear of Blaise saying he was too old for her and he was a Slytherin therefore not to be trusted. The last person to have made such a comment, Romilda Vane, had ended up in the hospital wing covered in sticky green bogeys courtesy of Ginny Weasley.

Sadly, Harry and Draco had had very little interaction since the Yule Ball when Harry had declared his love for the blonde. Harry had spent much of his time desperately trying to seek Draco out so they could talk and Draco had poured his concentration into avoiding Harry as much as humanly possible so that they wouldn't have to talk.

Everyone could see that both boys were miserable without one another but nobody seemed able to help reunite them. Ginny had executed many different schemes in hopes of getting the two boys back together but none of her plans had been successful. Pansy and Hermione had put their heads together and talked to the boys individually trying to persuade them to talk to one another but they had also failed. Even Ron had tried to encourage Harry to sneak into the Slytherin dorm under his invisibility cloak and cast Draco under the full body-bind so he had no choice but to listen. However, Harry had decided that trying to talk to Draco was a useless effort. He would not chase him around, if Draco wanted to talk, it was up to him to seek Harry out.

The Hogwarts Professor's had also put in an effort to help the two teens patch up their relationship by pairing them together in classes, or in Snape's case giving them detention so that they would be alone for an hour. Alas, these efforts were as futile as Harry and Draco's friends' attempts.

Another development at Hogwarts was the relationship between Snape and Lupin. After a very public kiss at dinner on New Year's Eve, the entire student population had become aware that their Potions master and Defence teacher were an item. There were even occasions when Snape smiled, a first year girl had been so shocked by the uncharacteristic expression that she had fallen off her stool and spilt her cauldron onto the floor.

However, despite being happy and in love, Snape was growing increasingly worried. At his last death-eater meeting, Voldemort had revealed his plans to attack Hogwarts on Valentine's Day. He had also said that a reliable source had informed him that Harry Potter had indeed fallen in love with Draco Malfoy.

As Snape had failed to inform the dark lord of this vital piece of information, he had been subjected to the cruciatus curse for a full hour. So the potions master wasn't only worried about the coming attack, he also feared that someone in Hogwarts was passing information to Voldemort but he had no idea who it was. Even more worryingly, Dumbledore had no idea.

"Severus?" Remus asked as he looked over at his lover who was gazing out the window with a frown on his face. "What's on your mind?"

"Too much." He replied moodily.

Remus rose from the bed and crossed over to his lover wrapping his arms around him from behind. The werewolf pressed a gentle kiss to the pale man's neck before looking out the window with him. His amber eyes could just make out Draco's blonde head walking around the lake by himself.

"How is Draco these days?" Remus asked.

"I'm not sure." Severus admitted.

"Perhaps you should talk to him." Remus suggested. "The poor boy looks so miserable; I can't help but worry about him."

"He's a strong boy." Severus replied. "He'll be fine."

"Severus, talk to him." Remus ordered before moving to pull his clothes on.

Releasing a sigh, Severus pulled on his long black cloak and left the room making his way outside to meet Draco. He came to stand beside his pupil who was at the edge of the dark lake looking into the watery depths.

"I hope you're not planning to jump." Severus said seriously taking hold of the blonde's arm and forcing him to step a safer distance away.

As the man gripped his arm Draco let out a wince of pain and his teacher's obsidian eyes narrowed at him suspiciously. Draco made to tug his arm away but his professor kept a firm hold on him and forced his robes, jumper and shirt sleeve up in order to inspect his arm and he found a new set of cuts marring the boy's ivory skin.

Feeling ashamed, Draco dropped his eyes to the snow-covered ground. His arm was released and he quickly pulled his sleeves back down to cover the damage.

"I thought you were past all this." Severus sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I had a relapse." Draco mumbled. "It's not big deal."

"It most certainly is you foolish boy." Severus snapped gripping Draco's shoulders and shaking him slightly. "You have to stop this!"

"So yell at me some more." Draco drawled. "That'll help."

"Draco." Severus said warningly.

"Sorry." Draco replied quietly. "I just…when I cut…for the briefest of moments everything feels better, like I have control."

"I don't care how it makes you feel." Severus told him. "You're not to do it again is that understood?"

"I can't just magically stop." Draco answered. "It's more complicated than that…you don't understand."

"What about you and Potter?" He asked as he led the blonde back up to the castle out of the cold. "I could see you were happy with him and now the two of you don't even look at each other."

"He loves me." Draco informed his professor. "He told me so at the Yule ball. It's better if I stay away from him…safer."

"No Draco it is not." Severus said before checking that the corridor was empty and no-one was listening in. "The dark lord has been informed that Potter is in love with you and he plans to attack next month. It is likely that you will be called to a meeting soon. Pushing Potter away is not going to protect him; it is only going to cause the both of you to be miserable."

"Even so, I should stay away." Draco replied. "It's easier."

"You love him too." Severus stated after a while.

Draco nodded.

"It scares me Severus." He admitted. "I don't know how to be in love. Things will be simpler if I just close off and stay away, then I won't hurt him and he can't hurt me."

"Draco Malfoy, you're an idiot." Severus told him before walking away from his student.

"Yeah well…you fuck a werewolf." Draco called after him childishly.

"At least I'm getting laid." Severus replied over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner.

"Snarky old bat." Draco muttered under his breath before stalking through the corridors.

On his way to the Slytherin common room he came across Theo and Luna kissing passionately in an alcove. Draco did a double take before hurrying away to give them their privacy. He'd seen it coming of course, everyone did, he just wasn't entirely prepared to see the two with their tongues down one another's throats.

Upon entering the common room he headed straight to Pansy and Blaise to share the juicy gossip.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Pansy said. "Aww they make such a cute couple."

"Yeah well, as soon as Miss Weasley finally admits she's head over heels in love with me, we're going to be the sexiest couple in the entire school." Blaise told them with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Really?" Draco asked. "Does that mean you've found a spell to make you attractive then?"

"Fuck you Malfoy." Blaise replied.

"Ooh snappy comeback." Draco said sarcastically.

"When are you going to get back with Potter?" Pansy asked simultaneously changing the subject and creating a tense atmosphere.

"Just stay out of it Pans." Draco groaned as he headed up to his dorm, his two friends following right behind them.

"The chick's got a point mate." Blaise said reasonably. "You and Potter were great together, you made each other happy. You shouldn't run away from that."

"I'm not running away from anything." Draco replied angrily. "I just realised I can do better than a Gryffindor alright."

"Liar." Pansy and Blaise said together both frowning at him.

"Oh will the pair of you just go away?" Draco asked in annoyance.

Nagini then slithered out form beneath Draco's bed letting out a string of hisses. Blaise eyed her apprehensively and edged towards the door. The snake snapped threateningly at his heels and he ran from the room screaming like a first year Hufflepuff girl.

"Why are you so afraid to be in love Coco?" Pansy asked not batting an eyelid when Nagini snapped at her heels.

Draco didn't answer her. Instead, he paled slightly and let out a sharp wince as his hand flew to his arm; Voldemort was summoning him.

To Be Continued

Ooh, a cliff-hanger, I am cruel lol

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