A/n- read the one at the bottom, it's kinda long.

Disclaimer: All HP stuffs goes to JK.

Summary: The countdown till chapter 13 begins NOW- the chapter where all the back-story thus far comes together and the action begins! Until then, please enjoy this chapter of drama, Katie Bell, and, of course, Ron being a soding idiot.

(By the way, props to The Princess Wolf for recognizing the plot points in ch 7)

The Other Side of Fate

Hermione had met him for breakfast, but only briefly, the enchanted sky above the pair white with false snowfall.

Draco looked up from a coffee and a copy of the Daily Profit to see Hermione standing near him, peering over his shoulder at the Quiddich scores. When he saw her, she took a breath to speak. "Harry and Ron are going to Hogsmead today. They asked me to go- I wanted to see if you'd come with us."

He mulled this over in his mind: spend a day tagging along with Wonder Boy and the Weasel or finish homework in the quiet of his dormitory. Draco took another drink, swallowed, and looked up at Hermione.

"Got some Charms work to finish, I think I'll take a day…" He trailed off and stood up from the table, touching Hermione's shoulder, the one with her bag slung over it. "You go on without me." Draco hid a smile as Hermione pursed her lips.

"If you're sure."

Draco nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"I'll see you later, then." She reached up and planted a small kiss on his lips. Draco squeezed her hand as she pulled away, waving back at him until she rounded into the Entrance Hall and out of sight.

Draco looked down at his empty plate and the thought of food made him slightly ill. Instead, he folded up his copy of the Prophet and walked along the Gryffindor table back to the dungeons.

Malfoy nearly skipped there, he was so relieved. No Slytherin stayed in the Common Room when a Hogsmead trip was readily available- it would be the perfect place to study, no one to bother him. Draco murmured the password to the Stone Snake, but it did not move. Ice seemed to flood his veins.

They changed the password.

Malfoy grimaced, his fist coming into contact with the wall. He ran his smarting hand through his hair and was about to stalk off to the Library when the Snake jumped to life. Draco's hand went to his wand.

Goyle poked his head out.

"Oiy, what you do'en?"

Draco blinked at him and pointed at the snake.

"The bloody password…!"

Goyle's face pinched and Malfoy couldn't tell if it was a smile or a grimace. "Passwords 'ferret'." Now he was smiling, more out of the look on Draco's face then because of the password. "No one told you?"

Malfoy grit his teeth and didn't say a word. Goyle stepped aside, issuing a small grunt.

"Ur not gonna stand there gawking, ar you?"

Draco passed into the Common Room, its silence pressing comfortably down on the pair.

"You're not going to Hogsmead?" Malfoy managed to say as he sat down hard on the couch, pulling his school bag onto the table. Goyle shook his head and sat down in an armchair opposite.

"Schoolwork." He muttered, pulling out the reading glasses Draco saw on him months ago, earlier on in the year. At Draco's look, he shrugged. "Not many people know I wear glasses."

"I never did." Malfoy blinked at him, his hair falling down into his eyes.

Goyle grunted. "Never asked; to busy making trouble you were-"

Draco leaned in and sneered. "Speaking of, how hard under Zabini's thumb are you exactly?" The boy across from him looked shocked, the book he picked up half open.

"Wut?" He said stupidly. Draco felt heat rise in his face.

The both were silent for a tick.

"Well…" Draco started awkwardly, looking down at his parchment. "I was assuming…"

"Blaise hasn't talked to anyone since he nearly hexed you. Even Pansy, she's getting quite annoyed."

Draco smirked.

"Too busy making my life miserable, I suppose." He drawled. Goyle raised an eyebrow.

"He's been acting strange; I don't think it's on account of you. The world doesn't revolve around Draco Malfoy, you know."

Draco grinned. "You're brave…" Goyle looked away and pulled a enchanted quill towards him, one that highlighted said textbook in his hands. "Why are you speaking to me anyway? Crabb certainly hasnt." At this, Goyle let out a harsh laugh.

"Vincent may be smarter then I am when it comes to learning stuff, but he's stupid when it comes to loyalties." Goyle glanced into the dead fire. "Not saying I'm loyal to you or Blaise- I just know when to stay out of the way."

"Loyalties… what about the Dark Lord? Where do your loyalties lie when it comes to him?"

Goyle winced only slightly.

"The Dark Lord? Heh… my father hasn't told me anything lately. It's like the Deatheaters have gone underground or something. My dear 'ol dad did let slip they had a plan, a good plan, but I haven't been told much else."

Draco leaned in a bit further, his homework slipping off his knees to the floor, but he didn't notice.

"And the Dark Mark? Do you have it?"

Goyle shook his head, but his eyes became bright. "Crabb doesn't either." He locked eyes with Malfoy. "But Zabini does."

Draco let out a breath and sat back against the couch, his head tilted towards the ceiling. Something was nagging at the back of his brain as he mulled over the information that Blaise had officially crossed over.

Narcissa.

Why his mother popped into his head, he had no idea, but Draco was suddenly very disturbed that a few months had gone by and he had not received any word from his mother- good or otherwise.

Goyle looked over his glasses.

"Your homework."

Draco stared at him for a few seconds. "Oh… oh! Right… bugger…" He leaned down to gather his things.

.o.o.o.o.

Not an hour had gone by when Draco had to leave the dungeons for a bout of fresh air. He gathered his things and left them with Goyle, asking him to just keep an eye on them.

"Look Malfoy, don't say we talked. Don't want anyone to know."

Malfoy agreed and left, not before Goyle had so courteously reminded him of the password.

"Cheeky little git." Draco murmured with a smile as the Stone Snake slid back into place, the coolness of the hall hitting him.

A walk round the lake would undoubtedly clear his thoughts.

As Draco walked up the steps to the Entrance Hall, someone rushed him from behind, nearly making him nearly fall over.

"Draco!"

He turned round to see Hermione clutching his robe, her eyes wide with fear.

"What?" Draco felt his heart stop. "Are you alright?"

"Where were you?" She said hurriedly. Draco saw the students coming back from Hogsmead begin to murmur and crowd around. Out in the distance Malfoy saw Potter, Ginny, and the Weasel running up to meet them.

"I was in the Slytherin Common Room. What's going on?"

Ron looked furious and before Hermione could open her mouth, he spoke up.

"You know very well what's going on, Malfoy. Katie Bell was attacked in Hogsmead."

Draco looked blankly at him, his mouth opening once, and then he closed it. Ron's ears were pink and he had pushed Hermione aside to stand level with Draco. Malfoy stiffened as he realized the Weasel stood even a bit taller.

Draco whispered softly. "How was she attacked?"

Ron sneered at him. "You know how, Malfoy, Slytherin scum! She had a package; something in that package cursed her. Any idea what it was, Malfoy?" Before Draco could open his mouth, Ron continued. "A necklace, a bright green, cursed necklace. Do you know where that necklace came from, Malfoy?" Draco glared at the Weasel. "Borgain and Burkes- Harry saw it there- and we all know what kind of wizards hang \round that shop, don't we Malfoy?"

Draco smirked at the boy's idiocy and Ron grabbed at his cloak. Hermione let out a tiny squeak as Harry put a hand on her shoulder.

"Ron, come on."

"No Harry." He snarled over his shoulder. "No, he attacked her!"

Draco knew the answer to his next question before he even opened his mouth.

"Why would I attack Bell?" The grip on his robe tightened.

"Saw you in the Common Room, didn't she? Wanted to silence her, didn't you?"

The group of students that were milling around started whispering, murmuring. Draco glanced at Hermione, his face carefully blank.

"Now Ronald-" Hermione reasoned, a hand on the ginger-haired boy. "If he says he was in the Slytherin Common Room, then he was."

Ron grimaced. "Oh yeah? You got proof? Was anyone there to see you?"

Malfoy winced. "No… no one."

Harry yanked away one of Ron's arms. "Leave it, mate. He didn't have anything to do with it."

Ron looked stricken, as if this was the ultimate in betrayal. He rounded on Ginny who glanced away. Ron dropped Malfoy's robes like they had burned him. Draco reached up and straitened his cloak with a quick snap.

His pride was getting the better of him; he sneered and curled his lip.

"Better get your facts strait before you start accusing innocents, won't you, Weasel?"

Ron backed up, looking around. Without another word, he whirled around and left, stalking up the steps to the Gryffindor Common Room.

.o.o.o.o.

A few hours later, Malfoy was back to his schoolwork. Hermione had tried to sit him down over lunch, but Draco's heart wasn't in it.

He pushed away his plate and looked hard at the table. What the Weasel had said troubled him.

It was too perfect, wasn't it?

Malfoy was glad Hermione had let him be. She wasn't like Pansy, she didn't simper over him, she gave him space. Kissing him gently on the forehead, a hand running through his hair, Hermione got up and left him to his work.

Before night settled onto Hogwarts, Draco had tried to turn in early. As the Stone Snake slid back into place, Malfoy saw Zabini get up from his seat in front of the fire.

"Oiy." The boy called to him.

Draco tried to ignore whatever was about to come out of the other's mouth.

"Oiy, Malfoy. Heard you cursed Katie Bell this afternoon."

Pausing, Malfoy looked over his shoulder.

"Is it true?" Blaise was leaning over the edge of the armchair he was perched upon. His eyes were wide, mouth open, as if hanging on Draco's answer.

"No, I never touched her." Malfoy looked clam and reserve, stoic, sure of himself.

Zabini cracked a grin.

"You sure?"

Draco bristled and Zabini lapsed into laughter, clutching the sides of the leather, his head bowed. Malfoy watched, half torn between interest and disgust at the boy. He was sure he saw tears of hilarity in Blaise's eyes. Malfoy felt his hands curl into fists.

Ignoring the display, Draco stalked off down to his room, the boy's echoes of laughter following him into the dark. Malfoy saw Goyle reading by wandlight, glasses askew.

Draco smiled good-naturedly, albeit nearly a sneer, and set down his book bag, grabbing his wand out in order to get ready for bed. He had lost count of the nights where he slept with his wand under his pillow, and again did he stow it there as he pulled the heavy comforter up round his chin.

Within seconds he was asleep.

At nearly three in the morning however, Draco was jolted awake.

For a moment, Malfoy chastised himself; he had not reached instinctively for his wand as he should have. Yet all that concern dripped away as he sat up and felt something flutter into his lap.

"Lumos." He whispered quietly, and a small pinprick of light appeared at the tip of his wand.

Draco's hands tingled.

On his lap was a neat folded piece of parchment, a letter, and although it held the crest of his father as his first letter did, this one was not on a tattered piece of parchment, but on the neat stationary from the Malfoy manor.

Opening the letter, his father's clear print shone out purple against the white paper.

Draco,

As you have probably heard, I am no longer under the care of those buffoons at Azkaban, I am at home, being fed properly and being taken care of.

I would not normally Owl you, that undoubtedly being your mother's job, but I wanted to contact you concerning two things.

First, I am proud that you have conceded to accept the Dark Lord's request- your mother having given us your Owl as soon as she received the news. We are all: the Dark Lord, your mother, and I- relieved that you are taking advantage of this opportunity to reinstall yourself within the Dark Lord's graces.

However, I must say that your first attempt this afternoon has come off rather badly. You were not able to complete your mission and the package did not reach the target.

We are disappointed Draco, however we know you will try harder next time.

Your father,

Lucius Malfoy.

Draco stared at the paper, not breathing.

He accepted the Dark Lord's…

He attempted… that must be Katie Bell. But he was… how could he have… he was in the Common Room the whole time, wasn't he?

And what target?

The letter clutched tightly in his hand, Draco got out of bed as quickly as he could, his wand pointed high over his head. He moved to Goyle's bed and crouched down.

"Goyle!" He hissed, shaking the boy.

A groan.

"Goyle! Gregory!"

"Wh- what's going on? Malfoy?" The boy sat up sharply.

"Shh." Draco put a finger to his lips. "Goyle, was I in the Common Room the whole time this morning?" The boy looked confused for a moment.

"Wut?"

Malfoy's heart was beating so fast within his ears; he could feel his blood pumping through his veins.

"Was. I. In. The. Common. Room. The. Whole. Time. This. Morning?" His teeth grin painfully.

"Wu'll, yeah, mate, why?"

Draco let go of the boy's shirt and slumped back against the wall, breathing heavily.

"Wuts wrong, Malfoy?"

"Nothing…I-" Draco trailed off. "Nothing." He moved back to his bed in a daze and locked the letter in his bedside table.

He'd leave it there, not say anything. Once he got another letter, he'd tell Potter. Once he got a little more information, he'd tell Potter.

"Nox."

Draco didn't fall back asleep that night.

.o.o.o.o.

The following morning, around a tensely silent breakfast where neither Ron nor Draco were eating much, where Harry was sending odd glances at the pair over toast, and where Hermione kept her goblet up to her lips to stay anything she would accidentally blurt out, Ginny had had enough.

"That it!" The redhead yelled, slamming the palms of her hands into the table. The Gryffindors looked at her with wide eyes. "I'm tired of all this! Look, Katie Bell nearly died yesterday, didn't she? Up in St. Mugo's she is."

Now she was speaking to the entire table.

"You-know-who's back, alright? And here we all are, scared, sitting in silence, ready to jinx or fight each other. It's enough I tell you!"

Her eyes went wide.

"We're still children, still students! Bloody hell act like it!" Her chest rose up and down rapidly as she looked wildly down the table.

"That's it… I'm throwing a Christmas Party! And everyone's going to have a bloody good time!"

Down the table, Neville spit out his drink.

A/n- okay, long one:

First, everyone knows this takes place during the HBP, right? Last story was during OoTP, just so no one is confused.

Second, with the 7th book coming out, HP is going to end before this story does, so no matter how it ends, I wrote the outline to this one first. This means that if elements in the DH are somehow similar to elements in this fic, its just coincidence- I will not change this one to 'fit' with DH.

Thirdly, I will still be updating next Sunday- YAY FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS!

Fourthly (haha)- Goyle was telling the truth, Draco was in the Common Room the whole time.

Anyway, like I said, countdown to chapter 13 begins! (There are 19 chapters in all- I know it's less then Jackknifed, but the chapters here are longer)

By the way, I'm sick (in summer, can you believe it???) , so reviewing will make me feel LOADS better!!

(you should really review if u fav/alert this cuz i get e-mails and know whos fav'en and not reviewen.. muhahahahaaaa coughcoughsniff.. i hate being sick)

Review!!