Disclaimer: I don't own any characters.

Chapter 21

He left the headmaster's office in a daze.

Now he sat outside, alone, under the big oak tree by the lake.

It was a perfect day for a quidditch game. Not too windy, just enough sun to see clearly but not blind you. What a great day to die on.

He was nervous. He didn't want to die. He could trust the sisters to protect him, couldn't he?

We're the good guys, remember, Piper's voice rang in his head.

But what if it's all a trap? What if they're planning this whole thing just to kill me so that I won't betray them? he thought miserably.

She saw him sitting there with his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Nervous?" she asked, sitting down.

He looked up and saw the last person he expected. "Paige? I mean, Professor Matthews. What do you want?"

"I was on my way to the field and I saw you sitting here all depressed so I thought I'd check on you and see how you were doing."

"Someone's trying to kill me. How do you think I'm doing?" he snapped.

"Story of my life. Well, our life really. Geez, I can't remember the last time someone wasn't trying to kill us. It's a rare occasion really. We usually have a party for every day we're not attacked," she said lightly.

He just stared at her, void of all expression. He still didn't like her very much. The feeling was mutual.

"You don't trust us do you?" she asked finally.

"No."

"No, you don't trust us or no you don't not trust us?"

He gave her an annoyed look. "Where's Piper?"

Piper? Oh, I get it. "She's at the field with Phoebe, Dumbledore and some others getting ready for the game."

Looking at him now, all alone and not in class surrounded by his beefy friends, Paige could see that most of his macho façade was just that...an act.

"It's not a field. It's a quidditch pitch," he drawled.

"Whatever. Look, kid, I'm the first to admit that I'm not your biggest fan," she began.

"The feeling's mutual," he interrupted.

"Touché. But that's only because I got a very bad first impression of you on the train. You can't hit on everything with two legs you know."

But I'm a Malfoy.

"How about we start over?" Paige offered as she put out her hand. "Hi. I'm Paige Matthews. I have two sisters, I'm half angel and I love being a witch."

She saw a smirk tug at his lips before he took her hand and said, "Draco Malfoy. As the only heir in the Malfoy family, I'll inherit all of my bastard father's money when he dies, which I hope is soon. I am a pureblood wizard and I love playing quidditch but I would very much like to skip today's game."

Paige gave a small laugh before remembering something. "Damn."

"What?"

"Phoebe and I owe Piper ten bucks. We sort of made a bet that you were an only child."

"Bucks? What are bucks?"

"Never mind. You need to get ready for the game. It starts in twenty minutes. Don't worry, we'll be watching."

She gave him a small wink and left.

Slowly he made his way to the quidditch pitch and tried not to think about having his head smashed in by a bludger.

He put on his robes, unaware of what was going on in the locker room around him. When he flew out to the pitch, he caught Harry's eye briefly and Harry gave him a quick nod.

As soon as the whistle blew, he completely forgot about all his problems and began his search for the snitch. Harry was several feet above him also scanning the pitch.

He chanced a look in the crowd and began to worry when he didn't see any of the sisters or Dumbledore. He began frantically scanning the ground. He quickly spotted Paige's red hair and felt somewhat relieved.

He went back to searching for the snitch when he heard Seamus Finnegan (who had replaced Lee Jordan) announcing that the score was already forty to thirty with a Slytherin lead.

Where the hell is that snitch, he thought, thinking that the sooner he caught it and got to the ground, the sooner he would be safe.

A glint of gold.

He followed it with his eyes and found himself looking at Paige again. But this time she was lying on the ground, unconscious. The gold he had seen had been her watch.

He began to panic. If he went down to the ground he might miss the snitch. Unless...

He went into a quick dive. Harry, thinking Draco had seen the snitch, followed.

As soon as Harry was close enough, Draco yelled to him while he pointed to the ground. "It's Paige!"

Harry looked to where he was pointing and saw Paige on the ground. The two teens sped to the ground and rushed over to Paige. They reached her and Harry began to shake her shoulder.

"Paige! Paige, wake up!"

Nothing.

Suddenly, Paige started to change. Her eyes became smaller, her nose grew larger, her hair became darker and started to shrink towards her head as her body became more and more masculine. Until...it was no longer Paige that lay on the ground before them and whoever it was, he was definitely not unconscious.

"Bloody hell!" Harry yelled as he and Draco back away from the strange man.

The man, wearing tatty looking clothes, sprang up from the ground surprisingly fast and faced the two boys.

At once, they both drew their wands.

The man opened his hand and as soon as he did, a bright ball of what appeared to be blue lighting formed in his palm.

Without warning, he threw it.

Draco pushed Harry roughly to the ground and ducked. The ball went flying over their heads and hit the bleachers behind them leaving a black scorch mark.

Harry got up quickly and fought back. "Stupefy!"

The man took a few steps back but barely flinched.

"Everte Statum!" Draco now shouted.

But the man deflected it with another lightning ball. Then two more formed in his hands and he threw them again. This time they got their targets.

Harry was hit in the shoulder and went sailing back while Draco was hit in the leg and fell to the floor. Their flesh had been burned from the energy of the ball and they were both bleeding.

Draco tried to stand but the pain in his leg was too much. He vaguely registered the blood now pouring to the ground and when he looked at Harry he saw that his shoulder looked like it had been mauled.

Piper, where are you? they both thought.

Suddenly, a memory flashed in Draco's head.

"But who'll take the picture?"

"I know. Chris!" Piper called.

In a swirl of blue lights and young man had appeared in the living room.

"Bloody hell," he said in awe. "How'd you do that?"

"Who is that?" said Chris trying to contain his laughter. He was after all looking at a teenage boy in a pink apron.

"This is Draco. He's one of our students."

But would it work?

The man now had two more balls of lighting ready. It was now or never.

"Chris!" Draco yelled.

Instantly, Chris was there.

As soon as Chris had fully materialized, the man attacked him. Chris dove for Harry and Draco. He grabbed them each by their shirts and orbed them to safety.

Chris took them to the other side of the pitch where the sisters, Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall were waiting.

As soon as Piper saw the state they were in, she called Leo and he healed them right away, to the complete awe of the other professors present.

They made their way to the hospital wing where Draco and Harry told their story. Oddly enough, together.

"I saw Paige on the ground and I knew I had to go help. So I went into a dive."

"And I thought he had seen the snitch so I followed. But then I saw Paige too."

"But when we landed she turned into a man."

"Shapeshifter," Phoebe interrupted. "What else?"

"He shot these balls of blue lightning out of his hands," Harry recalled. "We would have gotten hit but Malfoy pushed me out of the way then he ducked."

Everyone in the room looked at Draco in complete awe. He had actually helped Harry? Willingly?

"Energy balls?" said the real Paige. "Shapeshifters have energy balls?"

"They do now apparently," said Piper looking annoyed. "What I don't get is that nothing happened the way Phoebe saw it in her premonition."

"I believe I might have the answer to this," said Dumbledore. "Perhaps, Voldemort planted the vision to lead us off of his trail. That way the Shapeshifter could attack without interruption."

"He can do that? He can plant visions?" asked Phoebe worried. Could she trust any of her visions now?

Dumbledore looked at Harry sadly. "Yes, I am afraid he can."

"And we learned it the hard way," said Harry.

"Well, I am very pleased to see that you are both okay," said Dumbledore. "And I am very proud of you both for fighting when it would have been just as easy to run away."

Draco flushed slightly at the praise from the wizard he was taught to view with such disdain.

He turned and whispered something to the other adults in the room before leaving with Snape, McGonagall, Phoebe and Paige. Madame Pomfrey busied herself in the office and now only Piper, Draco and Harry were left.

"So," she began sadly, "I guess you guys got a little taste of what our lives are like."

"You have to do this every day?" Harry asked amazed.

"But not without a price," said Piper.

Just then, Hermione and Ron came in.

"Harry, Dumbledore's just told us what happened. Are you alright?" asked Hermione face filled with worry.

Ron, however, glared at Draco.

"I'm fine. Thanks to Malfoy," said Harry quietly.

As much as it pained him to say it, he owed Malfoy his thanks. If it wasn't for him he might have been fried crispy.

Ron's glare changed to more of an ogling.

Hermione however was beaming. "I see you took that potion," she said smirking at Draco. "Otherwise you'd still be throwing up. Thanks for helping Harry."

"Did he really?" said Ron disbelievingly.

"That's right, Weasley," Draco snapped. "I can be a hero as well as Potter."

Oh, the uncomfortable silence.

Draco felt the oddest out of all of them. He was sitting in the middle of the hospital room with the Golden trio and Piper. Not a likely crowd.

After a few minutes, "Well...we're going to head down to dinner," said Hermione.

"Great, I'm starved," said Ron.

"When are you not hungry, Ronald?" said Hermione clearly annoyed as she smacked his arm playfully.

"I'm proud of you, you know?" said Piper as soon as the others had left.

Draco's head snapped up. He had waited forever to hear those words from his father, but somehow coming from her it meant so much more.

Before he could even think about what to say in response, she was hugging him again. He tensed. He could never get quite used to that feeling of being enveloped by another's arms. Especially when that other person really seems to care.

"Come on, I think I'm starting to get hungry myself," said Piper. "So, when you thought Paige was hurt, you actually cared?" she asked smiling.

"A Malfoy cares for no one but himself," he answered automatically.

"Not even if a Halliwell cares for this Malfoy? No matter how much of a stuck up, spoiled brat he is?"

He hesitated before he answered. "No," he said flatly.

His mother had cared for his father and look how that turned out. He would not be made a fool out of. He would not let his emotions get the best of him.

I just don't get this kid.

They entered the Great Hall and went their separate ways.