The Other Side of the Coin
--a fanfiction by las brujas
chismosas
Disclaimer: Original story and characters have been
created by J.K. Rowling and are therefore hers. We're just borrowing them like everyone else, so we better not
get sued.
A/N: Ok, here
is chapter 3 ~ finally! Sorry it took so long, but what with spring break and
midterms that lasted months (!) rather than just a week or so, it's been hard
trying to get to our story. But here it is, and yes, it's short, but if we'd
made it longer, we wouldn't have uploaded it for another two weeks. Chapter 4
is on the way, we swear!! Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Secrets and Lies
"What was all that about?" Harry asked Hermione as they left
Dumbledore's office.
"Well, Voldemort has risen, as you might know, and Dumbledore
naturally wants to protect Hogwarts from any attacks. I thought he explained it
rather well," Hermione replied, looking away to shift some books in her pack.
"Hermione. What are you talking about? I meant Draco's
epileptic fit; he might as well have been talking in tongues for all the sense
he made… I wonder what happened to him this past summer…" Harry said, regarding
her strangely. Hermione didn't answer, but only shifted her pack once again,
and readjusted her ponytail. She had been acting funny lately, but he wasn't
sure if it was due to hormones, or just the shock of this meeting that was
making her act this way.
"Earth to Hermione…what do you think might have happened to Draco
this summer?" Harry asked, waving a hand in front of her face. Hermione turned,
and looked him dead in the eye.
"I really have no idea, but I think it's a good thing he's a part
of this-"
"What?! Have you
been sniffing at the feebleness potion again?!?!" Harry yelled, startling
several third years who had been walking by. Hermione shot him a quelling look,
but he continued, albeit more quietly. "Letting Draco in on something like this
is like inviting Voldemort himself right into Hogwarts. What was Dumbledore
thinking?"
"Well, Harry, if Dumbledore trusts Draco, don't you think we
should?" she retorted, pulling him back before he entered Great Hall.
"Well, whatever. I suppose we can't worry about that now, since we
need to figure out what we're going to tell Ron," he said. The idea of having
to lie to his best friend about the secret meetings for the rest of the year
unsettled him. He still wasn't sure how he and Hermione were going to pull it
off, but Dumbledore said he would address this in a later meeting; for now,
they were going to have to fake it. They both cast a nervous glance at their
best friend. He was sitting at the
Gryffindor table with his brothers, looking incredibly bored as Fred and George
were stuffing broccoli in their noses. Ron looked up, immediately spotted them,
and motioned impatiently for them to come over.
"Where have you both been? I've been looking all over for you!
Where did you two get off to after Potions?" he asked as they sat down next to
him. Harry and Hermione looked at each other guiltily, and spoke at the same
time.
"Erm, I dropped my-"
"I mean, he was-," they stuttered, looking at each other
confused. Fred and George scooted in,
squishing Harry and Hermione closer together.
"Ahh, my dear widdle Wonniekins, there comes a time in a young
boy's life when the members of the fairer sex begin to seem a great deal more
appealing than a man's bony red-headed chum ever will," George said, fluttering
his eyelids.
"Ahhh, yes…springtime, when a young man's thoughts turn to fancy,"
Fred replied in a high-pitched feminine voice. Hermione swatted them both, and
Harry rolled his eyes.
"It's fall, you dolts," he said, and turned back to Ron. "We can
discuss that later," Harry added, glancing at Fred and George, who had moved on
down the table in hopes of impressing Angelina and Alicia with their newly
improved joke wands, which screamed horribly when you tried to use them.
Despite their deplorable performance at lunch table that day,
Harry and Hermione managed to convince Ron that they'd had various things to do
after Potions, but they both knew that their absences each weekend were sure to
register on his radar. The added bonus of having to spend these weekends
learning advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts with Draco Malfoy was something
that still rankled Harry a bit, since he would have to spend not only Potions
and Care of Magical Creatures with him, but this as well. The thought of
spending Saturdays and Sundays with the joker, he thought, well, just made this
semester's suck-potential suddenly reach sky-high.
* * * *
After the meeting ended, Alex rushed back to her bedroom. The
entire Slytherin House was thankfully silent, as all of its members were
gathered at their table in Great Hall for dinner. She plopped on her bed,
closed the dark green drapes that surrounded it, and let out a great sigh of
relief. Missing dinner didn't bother her, since she wasn't the least bit
hungry. She was only glad she had managed to avoid Draco, whose questioning
glare had perturbed her during the entire meeting.
'Well, I doubt he hates me more than I hate him,' she thought with
a twinge of regret. There'd been a time when she dreamt that Draco would only
look at her, when she'd found herself in the throes of a great numbing crush on
him, not unlike the rest of the girls in her year, as well as the first,
second, and third years besides. This past summer, however, she'd been rudely
awakened from her dreams that Draco might ever have any sort of similar
feelings for her. Sitting back in bed,
she closed her eyes.
Despite the somber note on which her fourth year ended, Alex
couldn't help but be slightly excited. She was now done with her fourth year, and could now look forward to the
summer, half of which she would once again spend shuttling between her mother
and grandmother in Phoenix and San Diego. She could hardly wait to tell her
grandmother of the year's bizarre occurrences.
She had grabbed an empty compartment near the end of the Hogwarts
Express and immediately settled down for a nap. She'd slept peacefully until
loud yelling in the next compartment woke her up a few hours later. After a few
minutes of eavesdropping, Alex wasn't surprised to find that the cause of all
the commotion was Draco, who, forever flanked by his bouncers Crabbe and Goyle,
was once again picking a fight with Harry and his friends. Suddenly, she heard
the door of the compartment in which they were in slam shut, and a heavy thud
ring through the car. She ran outside
to find Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle stunned and helpless on the floor, covered in
hex marks. She rushed to Draco's aid,
who was still lying unconscious on the floor, while the other two were getting
up, rubbing their heads and the tentacles that had sprouted from their
faces. She had to perform a revival
spell three times in a row before he finally awoke.
"That's going to sting in the morning," he said rubbing his
forehead, his eyes clenched shut.
"No doubt. I could try and hex these marks off you, but that might
hurt even more," Alex replied, smiling.
"No, no, let me go home like this, my father might actually notice
me for a change," Draco retorted, grimacing in pain as he tried to open his
eyes. He squinted at Alex's smiling face, trying to focus on what he saw, until
his eyes widened and he cried, "What were you doing?"
"What? I was just trying to help you!" Alex yelled back.
"What makes you think I need any help?"
"Maybe the fact that you were lying here unconscious with
tentacles sprouting out your forehead?! I could be wrong, but I'd want someone
to help me if I were in that situation, but maybe that's just me!"
"It is just you! Leave me alone!" he cried, pushing himself
up off the floor, "Potter's going to pay for this one…" she heard him mutter
under his breath.
"Perhaps you should leave him alone…you've been harping on him for
the past four years, and look where it's gotten you," Alex said quietly,
standing up. Draco turned and looked at her scornfully.
"What do you know, you, you…filthy…American…. Mudblood!" he yelled, and shoved her back to the ground. Alex was so surprised by his reaction that she actually remained there, stunned, as he made his way down the aisle and out the car. She tried to chalk his outburst up to embarrassment, but she'd only been trying to help, and his rejection of her help angered her fiercely. From that moment on, she channeled her anger into hating him, which wasn't all that hard given his temperament, and the fact that she hadn't seen him all summer. Returning to Hogwarts, she'd studiously avoided him, though it seemed that she ran into him even more when she was trying not to. The idolatry of the other girls in her house fueled her anger, because it fed his ego, and when she found herself slipping up, sneaking looks at him from her end of the table, or in Potions class, she reminded herself of what had happened on the train. And most of the time, it worked.
A/N: Once again, thank you, o wonderful
reviewers: ferret w/ a fez, Stave
Leonheart, Rose Black (No one has flamed us thus far and it is probably thanks
to you and your warning! Thanks!), The Frog (A little too short? Hehehe…it just goes to show one can never
please people…We've had others complain that our fic is turning out to be too
long…=D), Zoo (If it weren't for suspense, how else would we keep our audience?),
Topaz (Ah, Etudies-tu le français? Merci pour ta correction sur
« mudblood »!), Ella, Aladastrius, Your loyal fan, Meffles, Kath,
Heraclas, Jenneigh (We also liked that it was different), Holly, Roxy, Memory,
Alanna Dumbledore, Flora, child of shadows, Yuubou (we'll try to keep it less confusing),
quiana jade, Florencia, gentlewatersoul, Sireeda, Abigail, sten41, and
Katarina. Thank you!