Drapple 2
The class went silent at the sound of a crate of oranges dropping onto McGonagall's desk.
"Today, we will be working on turning this fruit from one kind into another. The spell is on page 33, I will do a quick demonstration, but I expect you to get this quite quickly. Mr Longbottom, if you could pass the oranges around, thank you…" Harry took an orange as the crate was passed to him.
"I can't take her to Madame Puddifoot's or whatever it was called… it was horrendous," Harry said to Ron, continuing their conversation from earlier.
"I'm not sure I like the idea of you taking her anywhere, mate. Can we stop talking about this, it's weird?!" Harry glared at Ron, who looked resolutely out the nearest window and refused to be drawn back into the conversation.
"Hermione…" Harry turned the other way.
"Mmm," Hermione replied as she scanned her finger down her book, looking through todays spell.
"I was just saying, I can't take her to that tea place. It was disgusting." Hermione tutted and gave him a dark look, "What? You can't tell me that you like it there…" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You are thinking about this all wrong Harry."
"Quiet now," McGonagall called from the front of the class, "Watch this. It is a silent spell, so I would like you to take particular note of the wand movement." She waved her wand and the orange became a pear, then an apple and finally a watermelon, "Now I want you to start out small. Choose a pear or an apple, something that is a similar size and shape. Adding mass can be tricky if you don't have the basics down."
"What do you mean?" Harry continued as soon as Professor McGonagall had indicated that she was finished. Hermione was studying the spell again and waved her hand impatiently at Harry.
"Well, she's Ginny, not Cho, Harry." Harry stared at her puzzled.
"Are you concentrating Mr Potter?" McGonagall asked, making Harry jump and turn his attention back to his book. In the quiet Harry could hear Ron muttering his displeasure about Valentines day as he stared intently at his fruit.
"Aha!" Hermione whispered as her Orange became a pear.
"Oh well done Miss Granger. Now try a bite, make sure you got it right all the way through," The class watched as Hermione tried a bite of her pear, "Oh no, see there, its still an Orange inside. Well done though Hermione, give it another shot." McGonagall passed her another fruit.
"Well what do you think she would like to do?" Harry asked Hermione, feeling slightly desperate. Hermione rolled her eyes again.
"I'm trying to concentrate Harry! You should be too! What was it fake Mad-Eye told you at the beginning of the Triwizard tournament?" Harry looked at her blankly, causing another eye roll and a tut, "Play to your strengths."
"What? That's terrible advice…"
"Then go back to asking her brother, and let me concentrate, it's all the help I am giving you!" Harry glanced at Ron, who ignoring the twirling motion McGonagall had performed with her wand, was instead jabbing his wand at the orange like he was going to stab it. Harry decided against asking Ron and looked finally at his own orange.
"Oh, well done Mr Malfoy," McGonagall was saying. Draco, who had his hand stretched out towards an apple went very pink, "Now give it a bite." And suddenly very pale.
"I'm not feeling well," he spluttered and ran from the room taking the apple and grabbing two bags from the floor as he went. Professor McGonagall just shook her head and muttered something about speaking to Madame Pomfrey and detention. Malfoy had been acting strangely a lot this year. Harry stared blankly at the door for several seconds before McGonagall's shadow loomed over him,
"I haven't even seen you pick up your wand, Mr Potter."
Fred and George left Zonko's gift shop with a large bag of goodies between them. Fred was hefting it along whilst George had out a quill and a piece of parchment. They were making notes on several of the products Zonko had on offer.
"This one," Fred said pulling a brightly coloured packet out of the bag, "It's from his muggle section. Dad loves it, but I think we could take it further."
"What does it do?" George asked curiously looking at the box with a winding arm on one side. They had split up in the shop, taking half of the shop each to canvass for ideas or rivals to the ideas they already had.
"Here," said Fred, putting down his bag and taking the quill and paper from George, "Give it a go."
"Alright," George said gamely taking the box. He wound the handle which played a small tune. Suddenly the top of the box sprang off and a padded glove on a spring burst out and punch him in the face.
"Oh, that's good. Those muggles!" He laughed, "But we could definitely improve it."
"It doesn't hurt at all when it makes contact.."
"And what if we added a black eye…
"Non-removeable black eye…"
"Black eye that changes colour?" George sniggered at the thought and took the quill and parchment back to make notes. As he was doing so Fred glanced around. They had been walking aimlessly since leaving the shop.
"We should have gone to the three broomsticks, we could have planned over a butterbeer."
"No, let's go in here," said George with a wide grin on his face. Fred looked through the glass window of the tea shop. It was decorated for Valentines day. Little floating candles, heart confetti and little cherubs bobbed around. The tables were filled with couples holding hands and practically drooling while they stared into each other's eyes. Fred's grin mirrored his twins.
"Lets… hey! Look at Malfoy."
"That git got a date…. Is that an apple?!" The two boys watched through the window.
Draco was indeed sat at a quaint little table, heart confetti sprinkling his blonde hair and shoulders. Across from him on the table was an apple. A green apple. He was looking at it strangely and, from outside the twins watched as he gestured with hands, as if he were talking to it."
"What is he doing?" Fred asked.
"Let's find out," George grinned again and pulled out a tangle of extendable ears.
The twins pushed their way into the little tea shop and fought their way over to an empty table.
"Oh, love is in the air, Fred!" George said as they sat down, batting his eyelashes at Fred.
"Who better to spend Valentines day with than the other half of me," Fred replied in mock sincerity, reaching his hand out towards George who swatted it away.
"You're going to have to at least buy me tea first!" He chided, "What sort of guy do you think I am?! Holding hands on the first date!" Several of the tables around them snickered. Fred pretended to look wounded.
"Don't play hard to get now, Georgie, everyone knows that we are a pair!"
"Pair of idiots," huffed a boy nearby who's girlfriend had giggled at the twins. The twins gave the girl their best grins and a little wave before turning to the rather large menu.
"I've got an idea for cover," Fred whispered to George, "Excuse me!" He beckoned the Host of the tea shop over, "Could we have two more menus please, we would like our tea to be a little more private." The Host returned with more menus and took their tea order which appeared on the table with a wave of her wand. She gave the boys a strange look as she walked away.
"You'd think she had never seen two brothers out for a date on Valentines day before!" George said as he erected the menu's around the table creating screens. The pair leaned forwards so that their heads disappeared behind the menus. The tables were all packed closely together which meant no one saw their extendable ears unroll and slither under the tables towards their target sat three tables over.
"This is the best I could do," Draco was hissing. George glanced over his menu to see that Draco was looking directly at the apple whilst he spoke, "Don't be mad with me. I don't know how this happened and I don't know how to fix it… We're just going to enjoy Valentines day and then… and then, I'll tell my mother. Ok. Or Snape. They'll understand. I promise, I can make this right for us."
"She stood you up Draco?" A loud voice boomed. The twins quickly looked over the tops of the menus again. It was one of the idiots that always followed Malfoy around. He plopped into the seat opposite Draco, "That's a shame…" His big meaty hand reached for the apple. Malfoy's face, which had been glaring at the boy, changed to one of horror.
"She's mine!" He snapped grabbing the apple from the ape-man; which was an insult to apes', the twins thought.
"She?!" Draco had gone very pink. He glared around at the other tea drinkers before turning tail and running from the shop.
"Well that was weird," said George.
"What do you think he was doing?" asked Fred,
"Dating an apple by the looks of things."
"You think someone slipped him a love potion?"
"If they did, I have to find out who and give them a pat on the back! That's hilarious."
"I'll tell our mum, then we'll be together forever," Fred said, giving George a moony eyed expression.
"Stop pressuring me!" George suddenly cried, standing up so quickly his chair toppled over, "Maybe I'm not ready for the commitment!" And he stormed out of the shop in the same manner that Draco had. Fred laughed, dropped some money on the table and then hurried after him shouting;
"George! Don't leave me!"
Snape strode alongside the lake on Valentines day evening. He had already disturbed several students engaged in activities they shouldn't be and had sent them off to their common rooms minus 20 points apiece. It was a very nice sunset, he supposed, reflected in the lake's still waters, it was somewhat enchanting.
He stubbornly tried to ignore the memories of walking beside this lake with her, too scared to reach for her hand. She would have punched him. Broken his heart and then mended it again with a smile. No. He didn't want to think of her. He glared at the ground before him and swiped his wand at a nearby bush. His heart nearly stopped. There behind the bush lay a ginger haired girl, her hand resting on the face of a boy with messy black hair, kissing. For a second he thought that some cruel trick had taken him back in time to the point when his heart had shattered into tiny fragments.
"Potter!" He snarled at the memory. The Potter that was actually in front of him, jumped when he heard his name, breaking his kiss with the ginger girl, who, when she looked at Snape, had brown eyes. The green eyes, he remembered so clearly, stared at Snape from his face. It was maddening, those eyes, Lily's eyes, looking at him from James Potter's face. A constant reminder of his broken heart.
"Shit!" Harry exclaimed, "Come on, Ginny!" He grabbed her hand and the two of them raced away from Snape.
"Potter! Get back here!" He roared after them, "20 points each from Gryffindor!" The boy didn't stop and neither did his girlfriend, which was possibly a good thing. His mood was black, and he didn't think he could stand a second of being under the gaze of those eyes, so like hers.
He turned away from the lake and marched into the grounds, trying to stuff dark memories into the recesses of his mind, "I think I love him, Sev…" He snarled to himself. No. With a forceful push he shoved the memories to the back of his mind.
Panting slightly from his rage-blinded walk, he looked around to find he was on a small rise looking down on the whomping willow. He was surprised to see Draco Malfoy sitting slightly further down the hill. He was lounging against the grass, with an apple in his lap, looking up at the ink streaked sky. Snape made his way down towards him, maybe now was the time to discuss the unbreakable vow. But he stopped again when he heard Draco talking to himself.
"See, we have done all the things you wanted to do for Valentine's day. Everything a good boyfriend would do with their girlfriend." He held the apple up and then pressed it to his lips, "Even a twilight kiss…" He was quiet for a bit, "Oh god, what am I going to do? How will I tell my mother?!" He held the apple up above his eyes, "Or Snape, he might understand."
"Understand what?" Snape asked. Malfoy jumped and shoved the apple into a pocket.
"Nothing. Are you following me?!"
"No, I was merely out for a night time stroll. But Draco, I do need to talk to you."
"Not now," Draco snapped defensively.
"Draco, please, I can help…"
"No. It is my task and I will complete it. I can do it."
"Draco.."
"No!" The boy stormed up the hill towards the castle. Snape sighed.
"Wait, Draco. Professor McGonagall asked me to tell you that you have a detention with her tomorrow evening. Apparently, you made false claims in order to leave her class." Draco had paused to listen but without otherwise acknowledging that he had heard, he continued to storm towards the castle. "And 20 points from Slytherin," He said, though Draco wouldn't be able to hear him anymore, "And 20 points from which ever house your apple is in," he laughed softly to himself
.
"Dennis, you have to practice getting it right," Colin was saying to his brother, "Look, watch me…" Colin surveyed the Slytherin table before pointing his wand at his target and saying "Accio sugar!" A sugar pot that had been sitting between the elbows of two Slytherins suddenly zoomed towards Colin. Unfortunately, a Hufflepuff stood up and walked straight into its path. The sugar bowl crashed into her back, making her scream. She glared at the surprised Slytherins.
"Very funny, haha!" She snapped at them dusting the sugar from her robes. The Slytherin's gave her scornful looks before returning to their food.
"Oops," Colin said, his ears turning pink, "But you see how it would have come to me if she hadn't have got in the way right. Its how Harry won the first round of the Triwizard tournament."
"You told me already Col," Dennis said, "But I want to hear it again!"
"It is a good one! I got some really good photos on that day. One day I'm going to write a book."
"The Adventures of Harry Potter!" Dennis sang, nodding enthusiastically.
"Go on then Den, you try…" Dennis, sticking his tongue out as he concentrated, also eyed up the Slytherin table. He spotted a green apple between the elbow of two boys.
"Accio, apple," he said. The apple wobbled, and his heart jumped with joy, but it didn't move.
"Really visualise it coming to you Dennis, really concentrate on it." Dennis nodded enthusiastically.
"Did you see it wobble?"
"It was really good Den, but give it another shot." Dennis nodded and with his eyes squinted and his fists balled in concentration he shouted;
"Accio apple!" The boy sat beside the apple had just gotten to his feet and reached for the apple. His finger tips brushed it as the apple leapt with a jolt from the table and soared through the air at high speed. Dennis stared at the apple speeding towards him in alarm.
"Dennis!" Colin squealed. Fortunately, Harry, with cat like reflexes, reached out and grabbed the soaring apple. Harry had been passing behind the two boys when he had noticed the green blur out the corner of his eye.
"That was amazing!" Colin said.
"Hey! That's mine!" Draco shouted. His face was a dark, angry red as he pushed past several students to get to the Gryffindor table.
"We were just practicing accio, Harry," Colin whispered, scared of Draco's fury, "We didn't realise it belonged to Draco Malfoy." Harry snorted.
"Stop throwing your toys out the pram. Its just an apple." He raised it towards his lips when the apple was suddenly ripped from his fingers.
Draco was pointing his wand at Harry and caught the apple in his other hand.
"Only catch you've ever made against me, isn't it?" Harry mocked. Draco stood with his wand still raised, tense and ready.
"I really want to Potter," he snarled.
"Go ahead," Harry scoffed, whipping his wand out of his pocket.
"Mister Malfoy, you already have detention with me later today, did you want to double it?" McGonagall said appearing behind them, "Put your wand away Mister Potter." The two boys lowered their wands, though they stood and glared at each other for a few more minutes before Draco stormed away.
"Minerva," Said Snape after spotting her from the entrance to the great hall, "Did you happen to take any points from Slytherin house last night?"
"No, Severus. I didn't. Why?!"
"Because I deducted 20 points from Draco… but another 20 are missing and no one knows why."
"That is the worst excuse you've tried yet… you are in last place, get over it," snorted McGonagall leading the way back to the staff table with a slight smirk on her face.
Crabbe and Goyle sat opposite Draco in the Slytherin common room. He was holding the apple again, occasionally swapping it from hand to hand.
"What are you doing with that apple?" Crabbe asked.
"Nothing." Draco snapped, stowing it in his robe pocket.
"Why did you freak out over it?" asked Goyle.
"It's mine." He said, this time through clenched teeth.
"But… you aren't eating it Draco…"
"Is that all you two think about? Eating!" He snapped. Crabbe screwed his face up in thought. It took a lot of effort for Crabbe to hold a coherent conversation sometimes.
"Why were you on a date with it? Was it a present for…"
"Shut up Crabbe!" Draco hissed.
"Where is Pansy?" Goyle asked looking around.
"I said shut up!" Draco screamed. Several of the other Slytherin's looked round at him and he felt his face blushing again, "I'm going to the library…"
"The library?!" Crabbe and Goyle struggled with this alien concept.
"Yes, its where they keep books," Draco replied sarcastically.
"Why are you going there?!"
"Because I need a book, obviously!" He growled at them. Crabbe noticed that his hand had gone to the pocket with the apple in it. They watched bemused as Draco left the room.
"There's something wrong with him," muttered Goyle, "Shouldn't he be concentrating on you-kno…"
"Shut up!" Crabbe interrupted.
Hermione was starting to get rather cross with the library. She couldn't find the book she wanted, and she knew it had been here the other day. She marched down the aisles huffing to herself. She would ask Madame Pince whether someone had borrowed it.
She stopped at the sight of Draco Malfoy sat at a desk, flicking through a book. He seemed annoyed. Like he was having as much trouble as she was. She remembered Harry's suspicions about Draco so, despite the fact she thought they were false, she watched him. A green apple stood on the desk. He flicked from page to page, muttering no, no, no under his breath as he passed each one. He seemed to be getting increasingly angry. Before he slammed the book shut. He opened it again to a specific page and ran his finger down the page as he read it. Suddenly, like a thunder clap that came out of nowhere, Madame Pince descended on Draco.
"NO FOOD IN THE LIBRARY!" She hollered. Draco jumped and scooped up the apple, "GET OUT YOU FILITHY LITTLE BOY!" Draco ran from the library with his apple.
Giving in to curiosity Hermione approached the desk where Draco had been reading. A transfiguration book was open, to the page that taught the spell about changing oranges into other fruit. Confused she turned a few pages but there was nothing else that seem significant. Maybe he was just practicing, she mused. Shrugging she returned the book to its shelf, it would be really annoying if the next person that wanted it couldn't find it. Well, at least she had found nothing to add to Harry's 'he's-a-death-eater' theory.
Draco made his way to Professor McGonagall's office. His stomach felt like led. He hadn't found a solution. He had to tell someone. But telling someone might lead to his expulsion. He ran his fingers over the smooth surface of the green apple. It was comforting. He should ask McGonagall for help. But what if he did and got expelled? He should have gone to Snape. He couldn't be expelled. He stopped short of McGonagall's door and was just turning around when Snape and McGonagall came out of the room together.
"Oh, Mister Malfoy, I had forgotten. We have something of an emergency. We will reschedule for tomorrow night or a more appropriate time."
"Yes Professor," said Malfoy not sure if he was lucky or not.
"You haven't seen Miss Parkinson anywhere have you?" McGonagall asked. Malfoy felt his face drain of colour. "What is it Mr Malfoy? What do you know?"
"I want to talk to Professor Snape," he said, "Alone." McGonagall raised her eyebrows at him. Snape was giving him an assessing look. He hadn't wanted to be alone with Snape all year for fear of him controlling the task the Dark Lord had given him.
"Very well Draco. May we use your office Minerva?!"
"Very well," said McGonagall, "I shall round up some more searchers."
Snape opened the door into McGonagall's office and let Malfoy go in ahead of him. The boy looked pale and upset.
"Do you know something Draco?" Snape asked him. Draco stared at the floor, his hand clenched around the apple.
"It was an accident," he said.
"What have you done?" Snape said more sharply then he meant. He silently cursed himself as the boy hunched his shoulders and backed away from him, "Draco, I will shield you from any trouble as much as I can…"
"I don't want you to shield me," Draco snapped, though it seemed more out of habit than any real malice this time.
"Where is Miss Parkinson?" Draco took a deep breath and pulled his apple out of his pocked and placed it on McGonagall's desk. "This… is an apple…" Snape said confused.
"It's Pansy," Draco muttered not looking at him. Snape's eyebrows shot up into his greasy hair.
"You will need to explain a little Draco," he said confused.
"Friday. In transfiguration… we were changing oranges into apples…And I… And I…" He stopped, still not looking at Snape, "I misfired and hit Pansy instead of the orange." He said it in a rush.
"WHAT?!" Snape exploded. Draco cringed, his face turning a bright red again.
"It was an accident," he mumbled.
"Why didn't you just tell Professor McGonagall?!" Draco shrugged, he had panicked.
"Idiot boy," Snape snapped, "We will have to get Minerva back…"
"But Professor…"
"I will shield you from trouble, Draco. I promised your mother I would do what I could to protect your life. If you get expelled from Hogwarts… the Dark Lord…" He whispered it, as close to Draco as he could, "This is not the place to speak of it."
A few minutes later a surprised and furious Professor McGonagall was back in the room. "You should have told us immediately, foolish boy," she said, "God knows what the effects of spending a weekend as an apple will have had on Miss Parkinson."
"Can you fix her Minerva?" Snape asked coolly, his hand resting on Draco's shoulder as if to reassure him that he was on his side.
"Yes! I can transfigure her back, but there might be lasting damage! How are you going to tell her parents about this?!"
"I will sort it out Minerva. You sort out the girl."
"And Malfoy?!"
"Draco is in my house. I will punish him as I see fit."
"We will have to report this to the headmaster."
"He isn't here this evening, Minerva. As soon as he returns I will inform him." Minerva took the apple and rushed from the room.
"Dumbledore isn't here?" Malfoy asked curiously.
"No, he often leaves the castle these days," Snape replied, distracted, "Let's return you to the Slytherin common room. I wouldn't suggest mentioning this to any of your class mates. We don't want Dumbledore to think you are bragging."
Draco let Snape guide him from the room, tucking away that little tid bit of information about Dumbledore's movement. That could come in handy, when the time came to spring his plan into action…
A few days later a slightly green tinged Pansy walked back into the Great Hall. Draco felt stomach swoop with relief. He rose as she approached him.
"I had a wonderful Valentines day," she said and reached up to kiss his cheek.