So much excitement! This chapter has a lot of good stuff in it as well as an important plot point...I can't wait for you all to read the next couple of chapters coming out – it gets really exciting. Also, I wanted to say thank you for all the reviews! It's so wonderful, everyone, thank you so much! Special thanks to Angel of the Night Watchers for editing and being generally fantastic.
Enjoy!
Chapter 35 – In the Eye of the Storm
Mealtimes had possibly become my least favourite time at Hogwarts. I had previously disliked them because there was someone constantly trying to avenge themselves from a prank I'd pulled on them – but now that my brother and I were hated by Prophet readers and non-believers alike, the insults at the dinner tables were hitting an all-time low.
Alya had started skipping meals as well, or at least waiting until the last half hour to come and steal a bit of food. She was apparently very afraid of the consequences surrounding my sodden bed – and quite rightly, too. She knew that something was brewing in the back of mind, or at least she knew that it should have been. Because of the fear of my retaliation, she'd also taken to moving her bed into Parkinson's dormitory. It had taken two house elves twenty-four minutes to do it. I know because I'd counted and threatened to give them clothing if they didn't work fast enough.
Breakfast the next morning was an event in itself. Now that I was back at school Nott and I had subscribed for our own copy of the Daily Prophet, so that we could keep tabs on what was being said and what was being hidden from the public. I tried to ignore the sensation of all the eyes on me as I read. It was nearly impossible not to snap at them, but even I wouldn't be able to defend myself against them all – and I was luckily distracted by the news article on the front page.
"So he is going to Azkaban," I sighed, looking down to the strong jawed picture of Sturgis Podmore that covered the front page.
"Who is?" Theodore checked over my shoulder. "Do you know him?"
"No," I lied quickly. "Just been keeping up with it. Don't understand why someone would want to break into the Ministry. The..." I checked exactly where. "Department of Mysteries."
"Maybe because it's a mystery?" Nott chuckled. "I'd be pretty curious if I worked somewhere I wasn't allowed to go into. The Department of Mysteries isn't available to anyone other than the people who work there specifically, and they have taken an unbreakable vow of silence on what it is they do."
"Unbreakable vow?" I frowned, racking my brain for when I had heard it. It had something to do with Malfoy's dad. "Is that the one where if you break it you die?"
"Right," he nodded. "Now eat so we can go."
Theodore had been hounding me about my food intake during the meal times I'd grown to hate. I knew I was thin, but I hadn't figured anyone would care as much as Nott seemed to. I took the time to finish my toast and just a few bites of my eggs, but that was all I could stomach. I'd been forced to argue with Theo the night before, explaining that because I'd been eating so little my stomach had shrunk and that's why I couldn't finish my plate. He didn't want to get into a fight now that we were on the mend so he shut it, but he hadn't seemed to believe me. To be honest, even I couldn't tell whether or not I was making excuses.
"Oh, hey Audrey," Lillian came to sit down on my open side, only open because Goyle had mysteriously gotten pumpkin juice spilt all over the front of his robes. "How are you?"
"Just chipper," I rolled my eyes. It was nice having some form of support group. With Alya's dismissal of our friendship, Lillian and Tracey had been making an extra effort to be kind. It was really hard for them, considering that Lillian was in a very upper-class pureblood circle and Tracey, though a halfblood, was not used to keeping quiet about mudbloods and blood traitors, but we were all learning and I appreciated the support that they gave. "Where's Davis?"
"Tracey? Er...hospital wing," Lillian frowned. "She got hexed by a Ravenclaw sixth year. Git."
"Who?" My eyes narrowed, she shrugged her shoulders and looked away from me.
"Don't know, just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess."
That was a lie. Even though she hadn't said anything about it I knew it evidently had something to do with me. People had been threatening my friends as well, hissing at them in the halls and telling them that I was not someone to be trusted, whispering threats about what would happen to someone if they hung out with me for too long. "Just like Diggory did", they'd say.
"We have Care of Magical Creatures today," Theodore said loudly, trying to distract from the thoughts rolling around in my head. "It's with Grubbly-Plank, do you think she'll be substituting for long?"
"No clue," I said honestly. "I haven't even heard why Hagrid's away."
"Well, let's go now," Lillian declared as she grabbed a piece of toast and pointed it to me. "If anything can cheer this woman up, it's the possibility of getting ourselves mauled."
Outside the castle the air was cool and cloudy, rain dripped every now and then from the sky in thick drops that slithered down my back and made me shiver. The walk down to Hagrid's hut and the area he taught class was filled with awkward conversation. Lillian and Theodore had never been close whereas Lillian and I had not really had time to talk about why she was taking my side in all these matters – but walking in a group provided the power in numbers we needed to be confident we wouldn't be hexed like Tracey had been. Professor Grubbly-Plank was waiting for the class on the edge of the forest, a table placed in front of her.
"Everyone here?" she asked as we filtered in. She took a moment to wait for the stragglers before nodding to herself. "Let's crack on then. Who can tell me what these things are called?"
In front of her, on the table, were a heap of twigs. They were bowtruckles. I didn't need to answer though because, as always, out of the corner of my eye, Granger's hand shot into the air. All the Slytherins rolled their eyes – even me. Sometimes I wondered why she wasn't in Ravenclaw for that brain or Hufflepuff for her kiss-assery.
Malfoy did an insulting impersonation of Hermione begging to answer the question – which was sadly quite accurate – and made Pansy laugh so hard that she squealed like a stuffed pig. The sound made the bowtruckles leap to their feet. They were actually very similar looking to pixies that were made of wood: knobby arms and legs, two fingers, and a bat-like face.
"Bowtruckles," Hermione smiled to the professor. "They're tree-guardians, usually living in wand-trees."
"Five points to Gryffindor," Grubbly-Plank crowed. I rolled my eyes, if Hermione ever let anyone else answer questions maybe other houses could get points too...then again, maybe she felt obligated to get those points because she, Harry, and Ron were all bound to lose double that when they misbehaved. "Yes, these are bowtruckles, and as Miss Granger rightly says, they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"
"Woodlice," Hermione answered immediately.
"Or fairy eggs," I said loudly, looking at Hermione with a sort of glare. "Though they can't get to them as easily so those are more of a treat than a meal-plan."
"Five points to each of you," Grubbly-Plank smiled, not noticing Hermione's sour look. The bushy haired girl tapped on her own Prefect badge, as if trying to remind me that now I'm supposed to behave. Ridiculous, I've been behaving just fine. "So, whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree in which a bowtruckle lodges, it is wise to have a gift of woodlice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will try to gouge at human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs. So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few woodlice and a bowtruckle – I have enough here for one between three – you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all body-parts labelled by the end of the lesson."
"Easy," I smirked, crossing my arms to look over at the table. "But I'm a shite artist."
"I love art," Lillian threw in. "But I have no idea how to label..."
"You two draw my bowtruckle for me – and make it look like I drew it myself – and I'll give you all the labels," I negotiated. All three of us smiled and went toward the table, taking a look at the bowtruckle in front of us. As with every animal, the bowtruckle took an immediate interest in me and once I had fed it some woodlice, it liked me enough to jump onto my arm. I smiled at it, pulling my arm close and petting it with my opposite hand's forefinger.
While I took the time to pet it I felt a chip in the bark on it's back. The bark around it acted like an armour, so to feel a crack was immediately a bad thing. I frowned at it, cooing a little, before I went over to find a tree that had begun to sap in the cool nights and warm days of the autumn. Taking some of the sap I rubbed it along it's back and tried to fill up the crack.
"There you go, that should heal you up in a day or two."
"Well done, Miss Potter," Grubbly-Plank nodded to me. "As always you know your animals."
"Thank you, Professor," I couldn't help the smug smile that crept over my face when Granger's eyes narrowed on me. "I'll go over to help my friends now."
As I walked over, throwing a taunting wink at Granger, I was distracted by my seeing my brother leaning over the table and being bothered by Malfoy.
"Maybe that oaf's been messing with stuff that's too big for him, if you get my drift." Ah, he was enlightening my brother and trying to seem like a know-it-all again. I figured I may as well end that before it got messy.
"Malfoy," I hissed, giving him a good glare and flickering my eyes to my brother and back to his group of friends. He got the idea and left before any more drama could ensue. "Would you leave my brother alone, please?"
"Playing the prefect role already?" Malfoy asked with rolled eyes, moving away from Harry and toward me, clutching the bowtruckle in his hand. "You realize that we don't have patrols until ten tonight."
"Ugh, please don't remind me." I muttered.
"I've been nothing but kind to you this year," he pointed out with a smirk that I was sure was not kind at all. The bowtruckle in his hand was squirming and trying to distract from the odd mix of smirk and mischief on his face. "I've been trying to make it so we have no reason to kill each other in deserted corridors, so return the favour and leave me be."
"Oh, I'll return the favour," I eyed the stick-figure in his hand. "I'll give you a bit of not-so-psychic advice: you're about to be hurt."
"Wha-" but before he could finish the Bowtruckle he had grasped in his hand took a swipe at his hand with the same claws known to take out human eyes. I rolled my eyes as he began to whine, dropping the twiggy creature to the ground where it scampered away.
"Oh, don't complain. It's not deep," I sighed, placing my bowtruckle on my shoulder. He went to warn me to not to, but I grabbed at his hand and held it in front of me instead.
"Ow, watch it!" I tauntingly took my time to examine the damage on his hand, the two large gashes that were luckily shallow but were admittedly bleeding a fair bit. The gashes stretched across the top of his hand from the lowest knuckle of his thumb to the knuckle of his middle finger. His skin – at least the skin that wasn't smudged with blood – was even paler than mine and his hands looked big enough to crush mine if I tried to hurt him.
Those hands would hold me, eventually. Those hands would hold me close to him while he...
"Look," I grumbled while I forcefully pushed his hand away from me. "The ickle baby doesn't even need to see Madam Pomfrey."
"Some favour that warning was," Malfoy hissed at me as if he could shoot venom. He cradled his hand and was sure to examine the gashes to check if I was lying.
"If I hadn't have warned you it would happen you wouldn't have dropped it so quickly. Then it would have kept slicing," I shrugged with a smirk. "I did you a service."
"You shouldn't have," Malfoy said lowly. "I would have liked to leave this class, even though we finally have a decent teacher."
"Hagrid is a fantastic teacher," I argued, feeling my jaw clench.
"Oh yes," the sarcasm dripped from his tone even more thickly than the blood from his hand. "Father was talking to the Minister just a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on substandard teaching in this place. So even if that overgrown moron does show up again, he'll probably be sent packing straightaway."
"Shut it, Malfoy," I hissed, hearing my brother curse when his bowtruckle had also swiped at his hand thanks to being held too tightly. The Slytherins laughed, but I rolled my eyes. So I called out a simple "I can set these bowtruckles on you lot, so you know".
Suddenly no one had anything to laugh about.
At least I could still frighten them properly, even if they did all make fun of me.
Charms was a difficult class, as it always was. I couldn't do anything there with my wand acting as it was and would loved to have just put my wand away, but instead I tried on with the lesson because Theodore threatened that he wouldn't help me with my homework if I didn't give it a shot. We were doing summoning spells...or others around me were doing summoning spells; summoning spells and I did not get along. By the end of the class – when Flitwick was paying particular attention to me – I made sure to roll my quill toward me on the table so as to look like I'd accomplished something during the hour. Flitwick had smiled at me, but he hadn't seemed to have caught onto the fact that I had done it by placing my left hand on the table and focusing on my Magnuse.
Herbology was after Charms and that was terrible, as always. I may know the plants well and I may be able to understand their uses in potions, but I use the dead and dried versions of it. I do not raise them. It made working with dragon dung – the best fertilizer in Professor Sprout's opinion – even more disgusting. And the stench just made the day longer.
By the time my last period spare rolled around, I had done so much Magnuse and smelt of fertilizer so badly that I spent nearly the entire hour in the shower, soaking in the hot water and relaxing my muscles. There were a few moments that I may or may not have dozed off, but considering I was in the exact same position when I opened my eyes again, I couldn't be sure.
When the time to step out of the shower came I had to focus on denying myself the thrill of cocooning myself inside of my blankets for a real nap. The situation was helped tanks to Theodore, Lillian and Daphne having all waited for me in the common room. I scowled a bit at the thought of Greengrass being there, but went to meet them anyway. I only had a small group of friends now and I wasn't about to ignore them thanks to my efforts of disowning her. Still, she must have known how against her presence I was, which may have been the reason that her cheeks started to burn red.
"I thought we could all go to dinner together," she said simply. "Might need a group of us to get past the prissy purebloods, right?"
"Because I'm a halfblooded whore, right?" She cringed at the memory of having said those words before. I guess she didn't appreciate how they had come back to bite her in the arse. Her cheeks turned even more pink.
"I shouldn't have ever said that to you, Audrey," she turned her nose in the air stubbornly, as she always used to. "But if you can forgive Theodore then why can't you forgive me?"
"Simple," my eyes narrowed just at the thought, just at the comparison between the two of them. Their betrayals had both been of a different standard and if Greengrass didn't know that then she had scaled three steps back in her placement of being forgiven. "Theodore and I had a foundation built on trust and loyalty. You had nothing to fall back on besides the fact you were overlooking your pureblood biases to be my friend. Even then, that didn't usually stop you from your rude insinuations and comments insulting my family and myself."
"That's not true-"
"But it is," I hissed, taking two steps towards her. "And to make matters worse you then decided to scream all of those discriminations – the ones with as little foundation as our friendship had – at me in the middle of the common room. And then you let me rot in isolation for the term...so no, Greengrass, I can't forgive you."
Her face, now beat red, bowed slightly while I looked at Theodore and Lillian.
"I'm skipping dinner."
"No, Audrey, I'll go..." Greengrass began.
"You can't miss another meal, Audrey," Theodore agreed.
"No, I have other things to do so feel free to eat with the man I'm shagging," I mocked heatedly. Theodore's face burst into a darker shade while Daphne clenched her jaw and nodded slowly.
"Audrey, you need to eat," Theodore repeated more firmly and did not even feel the need to address the comment I had made. I guess that he was still nervous I would disown him any minute. Maybe he had known that everything I'd just spit to Daphne was true about them both.
"You're skin and bones," Lillian agreed.
"Then I'll go to the kitchens," I shrugged. "I might try to nap before patrol tonight – Merlin knows I'll need to be well rested and in a good mood to spend two hours with Malfoy."
The three agreed with me fairly easily after that and even though we all walked downstairs together, I made it very clear that I was going another way. I did appease them by going toward the kitchen, going to the portrait of the fruit and tickling the pear. It giggled outrageously before the portrait swung open.
Most of the house elves were terrified of me: it had been just this morning that I had threatened some of them with freedom if they didn't make Alya's move out of the dorm room quick and painless. A few of them – by the names of Dobby and Winky – managed to look something close to excited.
"Oh, Missus Potter! Missus Potter, Dobby is so happy to sees you!" The little elf's giant eyes looked up at me with much more excitement than I usually looked down on him with. I smiled slightly, it was the best I could offer him.
"How have you been, Dobby?"
"Oh, very well, Missus Potter. Yous asking me is so, so nice."
"I'm not really a nice person, Dobby," I frowned.
"She certainly is not," a familiar voice agreed. Looking to my right I saw two figures hunching over a table and stuffing some sort of tarts into a bag. It was Fred and George Weasley. My face split into a real grin just seeing them.
"What are you doing here?"
"Canary Creams," George nodded his head to the tarts they were hording onto trays. "Taking them upstairs to be tested. What are you doing here?"
"I'm under orders to get food," I sighed. "I'm not very hungry though."
"Why are you so down?" Fred frowned. "I heard you got spot-on with Umbridge, didn't even get a detention."
"You sound impressed," I observed with a snort.
"Call it something closer to surprised."
"Why," I laughed. "Did you?"
"Almost," both of them said at the same time with some sort of smile that made me think I was missing a part of the reason why.
"Well, she and I didn't get on, but I didn't publicly ruin myself in front of her like Harry did."
"Yuh, hear' 'bout that," George spoke through a mouthful of tarts that obviously did not have the potion in them yet. "Naw 'ight."
"Not bright?" I asked, he nodded to tell me that my translation of his full mouth was correct. "No, he usually isn't."
"He's pissed then?" Fred guessed.
"Yeah, didn't stick up for him when he talked about last June and what happened," I muttered, crossing my arms. "I'm having enough troubles in my dorm, I don't need to worry about him getting himself in trouble."
"Trouble in your dorm?" George asked now that he had swallowed. "Are they jealous you're a prefect?"
He spit the word but the idea was not lost. "No, actually, they don't agree with my standings."
"Your standings?" George repeated.
"Oh, it's no matter," I smiled to myself. "They won't know what my real standings are until I knock them on their arses. But we have more room in our dorm because of the disagreement."
"Good," Fred smiled. "We'd hate to not see justice served."
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" George asked with a frown.
"Not give them detention," I scoffed. "Like any of them needs attention brought to why they hate me. It will just fuel their cause."
"No, no, no," Fred shook his head. "We mean what are you going to do?"
"If you're being repetitious to annoy me, it's working."
"Drea," both twins rested one of their hands on each of my shoulders. "What's our motto?"
"It's all shits and giggles until someone giggles and shits?"
"No," Fred rolled his eyes. "Don't get mad: get even."
"Get even?" I repeated doubtfully, my eyebrow crumpling. Hadn't that been what I had been trying to do this entire time? Hadn't I tried to get even by thoughts of hurting her, of giving her detention, of ratting her out to Snape or Dumbledore?
"She humiliated you, get even with her. Besides, if she's in the other dorm isn't Parkinson there?" George asked with a smirk.
"Yeah," I thought slowly. "And Bulstrode and Perks and Capper..."
"Exactly, you've never been friends with Perks or Capper and you know that you deserve to get even with Parkinson, Bulstrode and whoever else it was that embarrassed you."
"You just want to see some sort of spectacle," I accused, to which he smiled.
"I would love to see some sort of spectacle," Fred agreed. "But how would I see it all the way from Gryffindor tower?"
"Do what you do best," George nodded. "Make them see reason."
The emphasis was not lost – it wasn't about making them see reason at all. It was making them see how horrible I could be, make them see how much of a threat I could present myself.
With a smile the Weasley twins bid me goodbye and left the kitchen. They had definitely left me with a lot to think about, but I couldn't really understand what they were insinuating. Was I supposed to make a big deal about it or wasn't I? Whatever I would do to Alya and her new dormmates would have to be intense: I'd need to spread the word that I'm not one to be toyed with – but what would I do?
Deciding to lie about eating dinner I bid Dobby as sweet of a goodbye as I could muster and made my way back down to the Slytherin dorms. I just wanted to sleep and if I slept, maybe I could dream about the future...or about what future I should give those no good, backstabbing witches...
"Audrey," something dared to shake me out of my sleep. "Audrey, wake up."
"No," I groaned, turning away from whoever had touched me. "And next time you wake me up I'll Magnuse your arse."
"Draco's waiting for you in the common room," I groaned even louder, opening one eye and moving over to see Daphne looking down at me nervously. "He said something about patrol."
"Tell him to bugger off, I'm busy."
"He said he'd go to Snape if you didn't come," she said quietly.
I growled to myself, muttering death threats to the boy that was not present to hear them while I dragged myself from my bed. I couldn't believe that I had slept for as many hours as I must have – one moment I was lying in bed and thinking of all my specialties in torture and cruelty, the next I was being shaken awake. I turned around, noticing that Daphne was getting ready for bed now.
"Oh, er – thanks, I guess."
"Oh," she sounded genuinely shocked. "You're welcome."
Not wanting to exchange anymore pleasantries, I walked out of the dormitory and toward the common room, letting out a wide yawn as I came out of the dimly lit passage and into the slightly better lit Slytherin common room – which was only lit better because of the reflections within the Black Lake. I looked at it and frowned, shivering at the memory of being stuck in there and having to save Theodore. It was the reason this whole mess with Daphne had begun.
"About time," Malfoy drawled. "You were sleeping, weren't you?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but yes. I knew I'd need rest and patience to deal with you anymore than I already have to," I said simply, emphasizing the sentence with a yawn at the end.
"Well, so you know: your hair is facing north, east, south and west." I frowned, running my fingers through my hair to try and smooth it down. "You also have a pillow crease marked on your cheek."
"Lay off," I rubbed at the cheek I knew I had slept on, trying to increase blood flow and make the mark disappear. "Let's just be civil and get this over with. I want to send at least two students to detention."
"There she is," Malfoy chuckled darkly, almost giving out one of the rare smiles that no one had ever seen, but everyone knew had to exist. When he was done he began walking toward the wall that would release us into the dungeons. "Now, where would you like to stalk first?"
"The Ravenclaw common room," I said immediately with a vague hope that I could catch either Chang or Edgecombe out of bed. I'd had a vision that I would at some point, so we may as well patrol that area every night until it came to fruition.
The two of us walked there in silence, both knowing that as soon as we spoke we would start to bicker and the entire night would end with someone blowing up and the other having to clean up the mess and finish rounds on their own. But as we walked and I became more and more bored, I found myself wanting to start some sort of fight with him. It just felt natural for us to argue. It felt like what Malfoy and I did everyday and what we would have to do every day after...at least until I was secure that I had changed the future and the two of us would never ever kiss.
"So how was your holiday, Malploy?"
"Enough with the nicknames," he mumbled, turning his head toward me lazily. "And it was dandy. How was yours?"
"Apparently it coated the newspapers, so I'm sure you can guess," I said stiffly. To be honest, I hadn't really expected him to answer my question – now that we were talking, however, I felt more awkward than I had with the silence. "Go anywhere exotic and swim in money? Or did you stay home so that you could bully the neighbouring children? Oh! Did you go somewhere exotic and bully children by drowning them in money?"
"I stayed home and entertained myself," he corrected with a glare. "Did you go fight dementors? Or use magic illegally? Oh!" His rude impressions of Granger earlier in the day were much more accurate than the terrible impression he then did of me. "Did you illegally use magic to fight off dementors?"
"Heard about that, did you?" I frowned and rolled my eyes. "Wasn't in the papers."
"I like to keep myself well informed," he said simply, without any particular emphasis. "Unlike some."
Oh, here it comes.
"I'm as informed as I need to be," I said defensively. "How was I to know that people had been mocking me in the papers and setting the two of us up in some forbidden romance? Seriously, I don't read the funny papers."
"It didn't seem funny to me," he sneered, crossing his arms over his chest. "It was revolting, some of it."
"Only some?" I repeated doubtfully.
"All," he corrected. "But some of it was particularly retching."
"Fantastic," I frowned, walking for a long moment without saying anything more. He didn't seem particularly interested in fixing the silence either – but the silence only made my mind race more: back to the papers, back to the vision, back to every moment I'd shared with him since I'd realized we were both prefects on the train. It was all just...strange. "Why didn't you just come clean and say we hate each other? Would have saved you a lot of grief."
"You forget that we don't," he said lazily. I frowned.
"Yes we do."
"No," he said with a frown. "We don't."
"I'm quite positive we do, else I did not receive that memo." I kicked at a raised crack in the flagstone for a moment, but realizing that all it was doing was holding us back from Ravenclaw tower, continued forward as Malfoy had not stopped walking.
"One never needed to be sent, it's rather common knowledge." He continued once I'd caught up with him. I blinked bemusedly for a moment.
"Er – common in which circles?"
"You said last year that you would have been afraid if we were close because we got along thanks to our mutual disdain," he said flowingly. I was surprised, simply because I remembered the conversation so I knew it was true. "And since we both constantly feel disdain, we can't possibly hate each other. We're too busy hating everyone else."
"Well, I do hate everyone else," I sighed dramatically. "But you are included in everyone, so stop feeling so entitled and know that I still hate you."
"Fantastic," he rolled his eyes, continuing to walk for another minute or two without speaking before he frowned, a sour look crossing his face. "What about Montague?"
I frowned, thinking back to the train when Malfoy had made it very clear he did not like the interaction he had walked in on. Then again, maybe he'd just put two and two together –
or maybe he didn't like that his friend was stooping so low as to fancy a halfblood. "What about him?"
"Do you hate him?"
"I've always hated him," I replied with a sneer. "And since I melted his trousers to his bollocks, he's finally realized he hates me as well."
"You could just keep a low profile for one year, Potter. Would it be that difficult?" He asked rhetorically, but I knew that the question really sponsored a proper answer.
"No explosives?"
"No." He scoffed.
"No pranks?"
"Explosives are usually counted in a similar category for you." He bit back.
"Hmm, no dangerous and unnecessary acts of greatness?"
"Not those either."
"No death defying acts of any kind?" I continued with innocent eyes, he narrowed his eyes at me on this one.
"Particularly none of that."
"Then yes, apparently that would be quite difficult." I snorted, smiling away from him so that he wouldn't see that I actually wasn't minding some of this conversation. "Don't see why you care, though. You usually get off on me getting hurt."
"That's true," he smirked to himself. "I don't know why Madame Pomfrey hasn't just saved you a bed in that wing yet – you're almost permanently placed there anyway."
"Speaking of which," I turned to look at his obviously self-bandaged hand. "Didn't get that looked into?"
"No need," he raised an eyebrow. "Some girl told me that it wasn't deep."
"It's not and if you would have gone you would have been even more of a sissy than normal..." I frowned, continuing to walk for I hadn't really realized when we had stopped. He just shrugged to my jibe, continuing on with me as there was nothing better to do in these halls with no one else around. "But it's your wand hand."
"I've realized."
"I just can't believe you'd leave yourself vulnerable like that," I mused. "I can barely use my wand and even I don't like the feeling."
"I can't believe you care," he shot back quickly. The insinuation itself made me stop talking and swallow thickly. Were we really getting along almost reasonably? Why? Was it because we knew that this would be a pattern for the next how-many-weeks, or was it possibly something...worse? Could it be the images that keep flickering in my mind; the images of hasty and completely unorthodox behaviour and being wrapped in his cold hands was starting to take over all my thoughts when I was around him. Could it be that it was changing my entire perception about him which changes how I feel I have to act around him?
"Why'd you do it?" I asked quickly. I needed a reason to hate him again. I needed it before my mind spun into that unforgivable territory and back to the vision of last June. And I knew that as soon as he answered like the arse he was, it would be easy to hate him again.
"Do what?"
"Protect me," I sneered the word. "You did it on the train with Montague and you had pretty much army tactics to try to keep people away from me so I wouldn't know what was being said – which didn't work, by the way, the torturing continued-"
"Ah yes, Pansy told me about Alya's little move. Ridiculous." He scoffed, sneering at the wall in front of him. I did not like that. I did not like that he was sneering about something that had been done to me as if he was on my side. Malfoy would never be on my side.
"Yeah," I agreed with a clenched jaw. "That's one word for it."
"I did it as a favour to Nott. He was worried about you."
"And your reputation as my forbidden love?" I asked with a raised brow.
"That will be rectified as the entirety of the school will see me snogging Parkinson in every corridor until the articles stop."
"Oh, gross!" I pretended to vomit. "Malfoy, if you're going to make it convincing you have to date someone who isn't so pathetic. Parkinson will only prove you want someone easy and on the side of something substantial, not that you're not dating and beingsomeonesubstantial."
"Thank you for the advice, Potter," he said sarcastically. "It's really comforting to get coupling advice from someone who only ever dated Finnegan."
"I didn't only date Finnegan," I frowned, my mind starting to race as thoughts plagued it. Memories of dating Finnegan, and my first kiss with Cedric and the fact that Cedric had wanted to date me. I had not only dated Finnegan and the world had been in on the secret.
"Sorry," he mocked, "then he's the only 'substantial' one."
"That's not true," I said quietly, not able to talk loudly past the knot in my stomach. I turned away from him so he couldn't be privvy to the burning in my eyes. "And you know it."
"Oh yes, I guess Diggory was in there too – for a few hours," he amended darkly. I felt sick to my stomach, but what filled me wasn't a sense of nausea, but rather a sense of rage. I couldn't stop myself as I rushed forward, pushing him closer to the wall and grabbing a fist full of his robes.
"Don't start, I'm warning you..."
"Oh come off it Potter, you never got to date him," he said simply with a sneer as he looked down on me. I could not tell whether or not I looked insulting considering I was so small and he was so tall, but he should be intimidated. I could not account to where in this small body all this rage could have been stored. "And I'm not scared of you. I heard your Magnuse is completely out of control."
"Out of-" I stopped myself abruptly, completely aghast with the idea. Sure, my Magnuse had not been quite as reliable as it could have been and sure, I still wasn't able to project it out from my own body, but my Magnuse was still more powerful than any curse he could try to hit me with. Besides, who was the big mouth who told him? The only ones who would know that my Magnuse is not up to par would be Order members and my brother – who started the rumour? I took hold of his wrist, wrenching it strongly out to the side before closing my eyes and focusing. He didn't stop me...but he should have. He should have stopped me before I got such good focus on his hand, on the smooth and pale skin covering his arm, of the muscles and tendons that encased the brittle and long bones of his fingers. I took extra care in focusing on what little warmth there was in his hands and how that warmth was caused by blood flow – not that he had a heart to pump blood from – and how that blood moved around the hands that would one day...
"ARGH!" his scream disrupted the focus on my Magnuse and I was pulled out of my concentration as he yanked his hand away fro me. It did not matter how much my concentration had been ripped from him, however, because the damage had been done. The rip in my concentration could not stop the fact that his cut from the bowtruckle had just deepend threefold from when it had been done this morning. He looked at me with a sneer, trying not to concentrate on the blood dripping down his arm.
"You underestimate me too much, Malfoy." I hissed darkly. "And that girl who warned you that isn't deep was wrong. Now she's telling you to sod off and go to the hospital wing."
Malfoy looked like he wanted to retort, to say something mean and hurtful as he had just done moments before – but instead he just let out something between a growl and a curse before he spun on his heel and headed to the infirmary.
Alone. Again.
Angry or not, I watched him leave with a knotted esophagus – the entirety of my throat and stomach all clenched and angry. Was it because of the closeness I had sworn never to be near him with again? I'd been quite close when I hurt him, after all. Was it the comment about Cedric, a subject that still makes me want to scream and cry and vomit? Or, worse, was it knowing that I felt guilty because I knew – someday – I would want to kiss him despite all this?
"Miss Potter," the familiar and low inflections of Snape made me feel even more heavy hearted. I didn't know how long it had been that I'd stood watching where Malfoy had disappeared, but it was long enough to have Snape sneak up on me. I didn't want him to speak to me and distract me from figuring out the origin of the knot in my insides and at the same time I didn't want any advice on this kind of guilt. "Is there some sort of reason why Mr Malfoy is on his way to the hospital wing during your prefect rounds?"
"I hate him, Snape," I couldn't help hissing while my eyes welled up – it was still hard speaking around the knot made from my insides and the tears in my eyes were heating me up like fire. "I hate him. And everyone always says that I really don't and everyone always tries to convince me why I shouldn't...but I hate him."
Snape looked away from me for a moment, down the hallway that Malfoy had disappeared. After a moment he looked back to me and nodded his head slowly, as if he were figuring something very important out. As if he understood. But how could he? How could he understand what I did not, how could he understand what everyone thought, what everyone whispered, what would happen at some point with this person I hated?
Snape took a step closer to me, slowly, as if knowing I was about ready to explode at anything that came within my personal boundaries.
"Potter, this year is not the year for outbursts – magical or emotional," he said slowly, his eyes meaningfully narrowed. "Straighten up, you should know better than to attack a prefect, particularly your round partner. I do not care what provoked the treatment of his hand, but it needs to stop. This summer should have been enough for you to realize that we are underhanded in our efforts and you and your idiot brother need to realize that we are trying any and every way to do all that's in our power to keep you safe. Safe against others who would like nothing better than to see you hanged as bait-"
"Umbridge will never get close enough," I snarled at him. He shook his head, looking at me with raised eyebrows.
"Then do not let her. Be on your best behaviour – help by keeping your friends out of trouble and warning them of what will happen." I felt something else bubble in my stomach, something hot and bitter.
"Like you are?" I couldn't help but hiss at him, feeling more upset when something hot rolled from my eye and down my cheek. "What was it that kept you busy this summer, professor?"
Snape recoiled from me as if I had burnt him, perhaps he did not know that I realized where he had been. Perhaps I was the first to comment on him going back to the Death Eaters. Perhaps there was something else that I didn't understand, but it did not feel as good to hurt him as I had imagined it would. It did not ease my own turmoil.
"I have done what I need to do for the good of the people I watch over, Potter," Snape responded lowly and deliberately. "You would do well to grow up and do the same."
I let out a sob, it was all I could do to only let out one. With a characteristic sweep of his robes, Snape walked away from me and left me there. I immediately felt terrible – this was Snape I was talking to and I had just completely hurled my anger onto him.
Then again, I was angry. And it wasn't misplaced anger that I was throwing on him this time. I was mad at him – I was mad that he was risking his life to spy for the Order. I was mad he was risking his life by being part of the Death Eaters. I was mad the he seemed to have no sense of self-preservation and felt no need to protect himself for those anonymous people he thought he watched over. I was mad at those people for being so selfish and not realizing what they were doing to him. I was mad that those people were not risking themselves instead.
I started walking back toward the common room, fully preparedto let Hogwarts go unprotected for the rest of the hour, when I heard footsteps. Still feeling angry, I figured there was no harm in sending one kid to detention – why not? It would help with my own anger and it would help the teachers feel like I did something somewhat productive with my time.
"Oi!" I shouted, hearing the footsteps stop and hearing a long, drawn out sigh. "Detention, you little twerp. You're out after ho-"
But I stopped as I rounded the corner because it was Harry that stood in front of me, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring with pursed lips. It was almost like he had subconsciously learned it from Aunt Petunia.
But I could not miss the fact that my twin brother looked awful. His face was red and blotchy, sweaty – as if he'd just run a marathon. His hands were shaking, perhaps that was why he had his arms crossed so defiantly. And his eyes, more green than normal, were inspecting me in the same way, as if he could see that I had just been crying as well.
Still, neither of us put our pride away to worry for the other.
"What are you doing?" I asked him with a frown.
"Headed back to my common room. I'm sure you'll find I have detention every night this week thanks to me being the only one in the class to voice my opinions," his sour words hurt more than I expected them too. I had been through too many open wounds tonight to have my brother rub salt in them. "So there's no need to give me another, thanks."
"You're just getting out of detention?" I asked, unable to keep myself from being suspicious. "Weren't you just doing lines?"
"Umbridge is a piece of work," he said simply. "First night of prefect rounds?"
"Yeah," I said simply. "Malfoy sadly had to go to the hospital wing..."
"Did you send him there?"
"I gave him advice to go," I said swiftly. "After I did a few rather impressive magic tricks."
Harry, even when he was angry, couldn't help but smile. "Did it hurt him?"
"Blood everywhere," I couldn't help but let out a laugh in return. It was like a bark, like one of Sirius' bitter laughs, but it was the best I could do around the knot that still sat in my stomach. My brother went to ruffle his hair – and in doing so messed it up – and that was when I saw it.
"What's that?"
"What's what?" But he seemed to know what I was referring to because he immediately lowered his hand.
"On your hand. It's raw."
"Oh, must have hit it-" he pretended to look confused by it. "Strange."
"It was a quill that used blood ink, wasn't it?" I sighed, going up to him and grabbing his hand. On it, written faintly as he had not written enough for it to sink in yet, were the words 'I must not tell lies' in his own messy script. I was repulsed enough to feel tears bite themselves back into the corner of my eyes and threw his hand away in response. He looked confused.
"You've heard of them?"
"I've used one," I sighed. "Malfoy gave me one in second year after I nearly made him a eunuch."
"Ha," Harry barked in rather a familiar fashion as I had. "What'd he make you write?"
"Nothing, gave it to me to write my potions essay with – said later that he knew I'd write a whole bunch down before I stopped and realized it was carving. Realized faster than he thought though so it didn't scar." I frowned. "Umbridge did this to you?"
"Yeah," suddenly angry again, Harry turned his back away from me. "Thanks for that."
"You know, I didn't mean to wring you out to dry in that classroom. You shouldn't have brought up Cedric. And you should learn not to. While you're learning that, learn to shut up in appropriate situations, as well. We were warned-"
"We weren't warned about her," Harry pointed out. I frowned, neglecting to tell that I kind of had been. "She's awful, Audrey. She's here simply to make sure we stay in line, I'm sure of it."
"Then maybe we should stay in line," I offered.
"What are you talking about?" he threw his hands in the air. "You're the one who always gets in trouble and gets even. The minute that I want to stand up for what I believe in all you have for me are lectures? I already have one Hermione in my life, thanks, what I need is a twin that will back me up."
"I'll back you up on the battles that need to be fought," I hissed back to him, insulted at the comparison between our battles and allegiances. "This is just your pride getting in the way."
"My pride?" He sneered. "Audrey this is about Mum and Dad and Cedric and-"
"Stop talking about Cedric!" I bellowed, stomping my foot and feeling the hallway shake. I tried taking a deep breath, as Harry's wide eyes looked at me nervously. He knew what that was – a wave of Magnuse focused into my stomp. A wave of Magnuse that I had not meant to release.
"Audrey, don't-"
"Don't you dare, Harry Potter," I hissed. "You have no right to talk about him. I don't care if you were there or if you weren't, you have no right to keep holding him over my head so that I'll follow you along in all your little grievances. I know that Cedric is gone and I'm reminded every day, Harry, so stop acting all noble and thinking you were the only one hurt by what happened in June because you don't know the pain I feel over it all. You don't know the guilt and the nightmares and the loss of losing the only one to ever have any sort of faith in you. You don't know what people are saying and what they're doing and it's all because you're so used to being loved and adored, you attention-whore!"
"Someone has to defend his memory, Audrey." Harry gritted out, I shook my head.
"And someone had to keep him from getting killed," I hissed back. "So why do you always think it's you?"
"This isn't about us, Audrey," Harry shook his head. "This is about the bad guys being-"
"Harry, I've said it once and I'll say it again," I shook my head at him doubtfully. "What makes you think that you're always the good guy?"
When he didn't answer me, I didn't wait around. Instead I turned to go back down to the dungeons, ready to flop into my bed and sleep the weekend away. I didn't need any of this, I didn't need daily reminders of what I couldn't fix and I didn't need my mind to constantly be racing instead of learning how to cope with everything that had happened.
My racing mind was the exact reason that I almost screamed when I nearly ran into a pink swaddled toad.
"Oh, professor Umbridge," I breathed in shock. "I didn't see you there."
"Not a problem, Miss Potter," she smiled. it looked nothing close to sweet. "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation with your brother..."
"Yes, the walls here are so thin," I responded sarcastically. Again, she did not seem to notice.
"I will not deny I was warned, Miss Potter, that you would be a handful before coming to this teaching post. I was told that you are impulsive and generally very angry – but I see that you are underestimated from your true potential." I raised an eyebrow. "You, my dear, have lived through so much and have such a better grasp on the real world than your brother does. I am truly sorry about Mr Diggory, I heard that he was very fond of you and you of him...what exactly do you think of the things your brother says about his death?"
Something urgent in me told me to lie. I mean, obviously I believed what Harry said, in some way or another I had been there when he had died and when Voldemort had been resurrected – but I had played my cards close to my chest up to this point; like Harry didn't and like Harry should have, and I had not given that away yet. I could play however I wanted now: I could fold, or I could bluff. I could win.
"I don't know what to believe," I bluffed carefully. "I try not to think about it at all."
"A wise decision," she was trying to be sweet but it came of like acid. "I would like you to do me a favour, if you will, and tell me when you hear things about dear Mr Diggory and what happened to him, or all the rumours that fly around about that night? Do you think you could help me with that?"
This was the moment, when I decided what to do with my hand. Malfoy's insults ringing in my ears, my own screams to my brother still rumbling in my throat, and in my stomach I could still feel the knot that tossed my stomach and made it growl in the tune of Snape's words: I have done what I need to do for the good of the people I watch over, Potter. You would do well to grow up and do the same.
Maybe it was time to grow up. Maybe it was time for me to follow my mentor's footsteps and do what I could do for the Order, for my brother, for the memory of Cedric Diggory. I couldn't think of another way to help. I was no good with a wand, I was no good with people, and I was no good with involving people in the cause of the Order.
No, I was a Slytherin. No one worth trusting trusted me anyway...but maybe it wasn't about me trusting others and helping others...maybe it was about people trusting me and helping me when they didn't even know they were doing it...
Isn't that what Snape did every single day? Doesn't a mentee follow the mentor?
"Of course, professor," I found myself gritting out before I could stop myself, before I could make a better decision. "I can think of no better way to help make things better."
Audrey's going SPY! I've been putting in little hints for chapters, whew, it's so nice now that it's out in the open! So, who saw it coming? Who? I'd love to hear theories and thoughts! To my AMAZING reviewers:
jezzabylle: I'm glad you liked the last chapter, particularly why Draco was acting so weird – you'll be hearing more about that soon, too! Thanks for the review.
Princesslinleigh: Thank you! I love Snape too much to portray him as a bad guy or anything other than what he is – which is just very misunderstood and very sad. I think he's the strongest person in the whole series. I'm glad you like the Audrey/Umbridge/Harry triad of hatred and not-so-much hatred, but you should start expecting it to get much more complicated...
Sienna: I'm glad you like it – and I like answering reviews because it's so nice to get them. It'd be strange not to say thank you for each person who wrote to me :)
Rainy2000: I'll always respond to your reviews! Don't worry about wanting Montague beaten up – I can't wait for bad things to happen to him considering how many bad things he's thinking about our Audrey! Draco romance is happening – I swear – I just wrote some fluff not twenty-five minutes ago and I think I'm still giggly from it. Thank you so much for the compliments and the review!
Dustfinger's cheering section: Yes, so basically it isn't just Audrey being awesome that makes Umbridge like her – everyone thinking that she and Malfoy are an item is certainly helping her stay out of trouble...along with Malfoy himself actively trying to keep her out of trouble's sight. Audrey's fight with Harry definitely influenced Umbridge's faith in her – again in this chapter as well – so the hope is that she will be able to dig around and help everyone out since no one else has the power to. After all, it's quite clear that Umbridge loves her little Slytherins...
As for your ideas on Voldemort and what he knows of Draco's relationship (not necessarily romantic, but the two are definitely in close confines often), you have a good thought process there. I can't tell you, of course, as that would be cheating and boring if a similar subject came up, but you have to know that Draco won't keep quiet about what's going on at Hogwarts – and if Lucius knows what's going on...
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx: Yes, Audrey has her friends back! Well, most of them, anyway. Hopefully Audrey can make it through this year with everything that's on her plate...hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for your review :)
Ella710: Harry is usually massively stupid – or at least, that's how I always thought he was in the fifth book. Here I'm really trying to point out how much Audrey sees that Harry doesn't. She wasn't put into Slytherin for no reason, and Slytherins are cunning and sly – I'm trying to show how she can evaluate a situation (without being insulted or too emotive about it) and react accordingly to the outcome she wants...is that coming through? It was only a matter of time before she went spy, with that in mind. It's hard trying to make her so observant like that while not overpowering the brilliance that is Hermione Granger. Because no one is as smart as Hermione. Period. But as Audrey always says about her potions "it's just a different way of thinking" ;)
Snape, as always, was awesome in the last chapter. Sadly not much of him in this one – but I still thought he was pretty good here. After all, he's the one who convinced Audrey what she had to do to help her brother...I think it'll be fun. As for loving a fictional character? I certainly hope it isn't wrong, or else I am in a lot of trouble...
Daphne will be making a comeback, I've decided, and when it happens it will be hard not to like her. She won't make a full recovery in the backstabbing wound she inflicted, but she will be back in Audrey's life. I know exactly when. It will be great. But you will probably hate it. Also, you'll think "oh, this will be it" a whole bunch of mini times...but when it happens you'll KNOW :P
You don't sound callous about who you do and do not want to die. I have my list of people who I really do not want to die and Snape, Fred, and Sirius are at the top of it. I'm trying to decide who I will be saving but at the same time I'm trying really hard not to make a decision – I don't want to pick based on my own biases, I want Audrey to save them based on the probability that it could happen...which sucks because I want her to save who I like best...
I can SO see Draco and Audrey having super snotty Slytherin children in a big house with Snape nearby. I can also see Narcissa hovering over them like a far-too-involved grandparent who gives them anything they want...I kind of wish that I could just be like "and they all lived happily ever after, no one gets hurt, no one dies, Voldy just decides he doesn't want to be evil anymore and there is no war. YAY!" but...that's DEFINITELY not realistic, so...
I'm glad you think I "consider all the angles" as you put it. Ironically, that's going to be a really big part of the Dreaco fluff...but no more on that, I can't give too much away! Still – I'm giddy at the thought of it.
Oh, and as for you being excited to read my replies, I'm always excited to read your reviews (particularly yours because they're so in-depth) so don't worry at all! You're marvelous, thank you as always :)
Princess-Dixon: Aw, I'm glad it makes your day when I update because it always makes me feel so happy when I get reviews! I think this is a win-win for us both. I'm glad the angst doesn't feel overdone. I remember when I read the fifth book thinking that the angst was suffocating the rest of the novel, so I'm happy that you don't think it's too much. Even though Draco wasn't in the last chapter he's in this one and the next five that I have already written, so don't fret! Thank you so much for the review, I hope you liked this chapter!
rose1589: Thanks for the review, hope you liked the chapter!
Novella Vialli: Harry should be slapped a lot of the time, so I encourage you.
TheForrestAgain: Umbridge is a great villain, even if she is a little bit bad on her uptake of sarcasm and the general feeling of apathy most feel toward her. Malfoy's stuff in the press is DEFINITELY affecting her perception of Audrey, which will be more defined in coming chapters. The fifth book is my least favourite – it's great and I love the plot points, but it's just not as exciting for me until the last ten chapters or so...it's a pattern I'm trying to break as most people say this was their least favourite of them all. I hope that you liked the chapter and thanks again for reviewing!
love4anime: Yes, Umbridge really doesn't seem like the type to understand sarcasm, does she? She's a subtle kind of evil (for the most part) but I could see her jus tnot understanding sarcasm, particularly if it comes from dry humoured, takes-no-crap Audrey. I found Harry very frustrating in this book particularly, so it's good that I'm getting the hair tugging frustration and at the same time the "aww good brother" ideals across. Do you still think that Audrey may join the DA now that she's decided to play spy? Thank you so much for the review :)
DancerForver: Yes, you had really good timing last time when I updated as you were reviewing, that was pretty cool :) Thank you for your review, I hope that you liked this chapter too!
xxz0eyxx: I don't think the Slytherins will ever truly love Audrey as she is...unless maybe she starts dating Malfoy ;) School sucks, but as someone who's taking a year off, love it while you can. You don't realize that the stress of school is nothing in comparison to the stress of the real world – they really don't prepare us well enough for the whole 'living on your own' thing. It's depressing. Anyway, thanks for the review!
Guest: Sorry about the confusion, it was the right chapter but I probably should have reminded everyone a little bit better that Alya, Tracey and Lillian were dormmates with Audrey. We saw them a few times in the Goblet of Fire (particularly the night before the Yule Ball). Thanks for letting me know.
FullmoonSwan: Thanks for the review – the tension will only get worse, so I hope you still liked it!
Kate: Yeah, Audrey would have been pretty cool in the movies. It's hard to imagine her because when I was looking for a picture to post of her (I ended up using Emma Stone) I couldn't find anyone who looked like what I envision in my head. So though I used Emma Stone, she looks way different to me – but I guess it's up to each individual. I'm glad you want to punch Alya and the girls in the face – it means you feel for Audrey, which is good...or it is to me, anyway. Thanks for the review :)
sexichick: Audrey's always getting herself into trouble – but would we love her as much if she didn't? I'm glad that you like Audrey and the difference between she and Harry – I try very hard not to make her into a Mary-Sue, which can be difficult considering she's pretty powerful and stuff. I also like that you're now for Draco! Yay, welcome to the dark side! Hopefully you like everything I have going for the two of those crazy Slytherins.
neoko-chan: Thank you! My advice for any fanfiction is to never base a character off of a character...when I say that, I mean that I didn't base Audrey after Harry and I didn't base Audrey after Sookie Stackhouse – I based her off of someone I know. Because that person is real and hence Audrey will have real fleshy feelings, not premeditated book-y feelings. That's my method anyway, hope that helps! And yes, I can totally see Snape as Squidward...they should do a Harry Potter Puppet Pals about that...
Magimagus: I don't mind that you haven't been reviewing, but know that you have been seriously missed! Not having internet must be earth-shattering. It was for me. I got my computer keyboard fixed (so it was gone for a week) and I literally thought I may die. And I still had a superphone to live off of.
Draco is definitely in this story more now, which is nice and exactly how the Dreaco fluff will start. The Slytherin girls bothering her was bad, for sure, but don't worry – it'll get better. Fred and George reminded her how ;)
I'm glad that you like the angst of the "traitor" thing and I'm pretty proud of the parallel there – it's been a lot of fun to write. Audrey deserves the attention, I think. And I think she's been going about it the right way in consideration that her brother is totally drawing attention to himself, even when he was warned not to.
I promise that there will be lots more Snape, lots more Harry/Audrey butting heads, lots more Sirius, lots more twins, and – of course – TONS more Draco. Thank you, as always, for your fantastic review and I hope that you enjoy the chapter whenever you get around to reading it!
WulfLuvr22: I literally belted out a laugh at the "someone should just stab Umbridge in the neck with a rusty fork". My boyfriend thought I was insane...but that's okay. He should know by now, anyway. It is REALLY interesting how everyone hates Umbridge – like everyone, ever. It's a pretty big deal to have a bad guy that no one can relate to and find things that they like about them. I just like how good of a bad guy she is. I even think that Voldemort has more redeeming qualities (such as the whole orphanage thing, parents didn't want him, people were cruel to him, etc)...and Draco Malfoy can't be in your bed. He's too busy in mine. THAT is all ;)
SarcasticRaven: I don't blame you for being lazy, I'm pretty lazy myself, but I'm glad that you've liked it. As for your moment with the waiter, that's hilarious – I sadly have moments like that all the time. I'm often in my own world and I'm also stupidly clumsy...so don't feel alone! Thanks for reviewing.
Qee15th: Yuck, exams. I hope this update helped relieve some stress and gave you a little break. When do you have to take it? Exams and I do not get along, I'm a notorious procrastinator when it comes to school work. I have a rough skeleton written out for the story but I have not finished it. I am, however, multiple chapters ahead of where this chapter I just released. I'm currently working on chapter 40. So I'm not done, but I am farther ahead. Thanks for the review :)
BeLLe ELLe PoTTer: Thank you very much :) I'm glad you're enjoying it, hope you liked this chapter!
Audrey Eakman: Aw, thank you, I love long reviews! Umbridge was a Slytherin, so sources say, and she definitely favours them in the books – I went and did lots of research on that before I began writing. You were right on about Audrey taking advantage of Umbridge's positive thoughts towards her and use it for the Order – well done – and now that she's a spy, I plan for it to become very interesting. Also Draco-packed, since we know that Draco is all for (and really helps to enforce) Umbridge's upcoming regime. Audrey and Draco will definitely not be having a straight forward "I love you" and "I love you too" relationship – that's not either of their styles, but I think it's pretty clear that they can't deny there's some sort of attraction. As for Montague and Audrey having to fight the battle on her own, it's quite clear that she plans to...but sometimes having a little bit of backup can save your life. Maybe she needs to start realizing that she needs to be a team player sometimes...
You're a Hufflepuff? That's cool. Though I've made it so Audrey doesn't think well of them, my Grandpa and Sister are Hufflepuffs and I love them dearly. Most people in my family are Slytherins or Ravenclaws (save my grandpa, sister, brother and I). Both my brother and I are proud Gryffindors – not that you can tell with Audrey, eh? Haha, thanks again!
Apple: Yes, Audrey being liked by Umbridge is pretty funny and in this chapter we see just how much it might benefit her. I'm glad you like the Audrey/Draco interaction and yes, Pansy will still be an option for Draco for a while, but don't worry – I didn't make this a Draco/OC story for nothing :) I'm glad you like Theodore, he's the voice of reason and the most loyal of all to her (I think) and I think every story should have a friend like him in it. Harry has Hermione, but Audrey has Theo and I think it's a good trade-off. As for the question about Audrey getting a new wand, I ended up taking what you said to heart and writing the reason why into chapter 38, so keep a look out for that when the chapter is released. Good on you for guessing that though, I wasn't going to write the real reason for a long time – so you're asking the right questions ;)
Angel of the Night Watchers: Have I ever mentioned how great you are? I'm already working on another three to give you after the three you just sent back, you should get them some time next week. We did get some of the hurricane up here – Sandy took out power lines and took a lot of branches down, but other than high winds and lots of rain we didn't get much. How bad was it down on your end? As for me, I'm fine. Recovery has been a little bit rocky and even though I was on a tri-daily anti-biotic and in bed, my boyfriend called my mom the other day panicking because I had a really high fever. Apparently you're not supposed to get sick when you're on anti-biotics (which makes sense, I guess, though they do wipe you clean and leave your immune system wide open, so I can also see why). Either way, it just means another trip to the doctor tomorrow. Sigh, I feel like I'll never escape them! How have you been?
Well everyone – the time has come when the plot thickens. Audrey's going spy, she's actively thinking about Draco often, and Umbridge seems to be on her side...what do you think will happen now?
Please REVIEW!
-Egypt