A/N: Hello, everyone, I'm back with chapter 11 after this long disruption caused by ffnet. (See, Sam, I promised I'd upload the next chapter as soon as I could!)
Thanks to everyone who reviewed!
Andromeda and The Firefaery: thanks for the compliments on my English!
Andromeda: hm, you don't like Harry and Ginny being together? Anyway, I'm glad that you like the story. Well, about Sirius… I like him, but he won't be a main character in this fic. (Though he'll have a role, of course – I wouldn't leave him out!)
Hermione Granger: you asked when Harry was about to go back to Hogwarts. *wicked grin* not telling…
Cloe: I'm happy that I managed to amuse you! And yeah, I am a typer, so you'll get more of it soon (especially because the story is ready - my mom's still betareading and I'm doing small modifications. But I promise to post as quickly as possible.)
Enjoy and don't forget to drop a review!
Chapter 11
Conspiracy
Not much later Dudley fell out of a fireplace, in a pretty dark room. He stood up, checked whether he was still in one piece and looked around.
He must have been in a dungeon or a cellar, because it was creepy and gloomy. He backed away from a fireplace until he felt something poke his shoulder.
"Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!" he screamed, turning around. It was only a lance in the hand of an old suit of armour. He wiped his forehead and turned right. At that moment he caught a glimpse of a hand lying on a table. But there was no body belonging to it.
He was close to fainting.
*Where in hell am I?* he thought. *Is this that famous Hogwarts of theirs?* he was sure that it couldn't be. *Well, no matter what this place is, I'd better get outta here as soon as possible!* he told himself.
He peeked out of the room and saw an empty shop full with the scariest things he had ever seen. Well, this wasn't Hogwarts, for sure.
To his greatest relief there was no shop assistant in sight. He could leave the store without getting noticed.
He tiptoed across the room, to the door. (Imagine Dudley on his tiptoes!)
As he stepped outside, the first thing he saw was a very narrow passage with an old, rusty plaque on the opposite wall telling that he was in Knockturn Alley.
He carefully looked around. The place gave him the creeps. On the other side of the passage he saw an old and very ugly witch weighing some rotten flesh on some scales. The smell was terrible, but Dudley couldn't decide whether the witch smelled that bad or the flesh. Maybe both.
He wanted to turn left and bumped into a man carrying a scythe.
"OOOaaaa!" he screamed and dashed down the alley in the firm belief that the man wanted to scythe him. It didn't matter for him in which direction he raced, he didn't glance at the plaques on the walls, just ran, ran, ran… until he tripped over a fallen broomstick.
He fell with his face down and felt the taste of blood in his mouth. He didn't want to look up, didn't want to see anything. *Leave me alone, leave me alone, all of you, please!* he quivered, burying his face into his pudgy palms, trying to shut out the outer world. At first he didn't even notice when four hands grabbed him and helped him into a standing position.
"Hey, stop that!" a voice said. "Have you got no shame? A big boy like you sobbing like a four-year-old girl?"
"Don't mock him, George, don't you see how shocked this poor guy is?"
"Poor guy?" the other voice laughed. "But Fred, the Dursleys are possibly richer than the Malfoys!"
Hearing the name Dursley, Dudley removed his hands from his face and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was four eyes scrutinising him.
"Wow, George, this is really the Dursley boy!" the voice, belonging to the owner of the pair of eyes to the left, yelled.
"Of course it is him!" the other laughed. "Got lost, Diddy? Need some toffees, maybe?"
That was the minute when Dudley realised whom he was facing. The two boys who gave him the Ton-Tongue Toffees three years earlier!
"No… say it's not you…" he mumbled, backing away from them.
"Hey, Dudlicky, leaving so soon?" Fred chortled. "We just wanted to share our sweets with you! Not interested?"
But Dudley didn't hear that. He was running as fast as his fat legs could carry him.
"He wasn't interested." George declared.
"Pity." Fred grinned. "He would have liked our new tooth-painting toffees!"
* * * * *
At Care of magical creatures lesson that day Hagrid instructed the Gryffindors and the Slytherins to wash the freshly uncurled Martians in big tubs, because the 'strange' smell of the aliens hadn't disappeared yet. Not that it seemed to have shown the slightest sign of ever disappearing, though.
"This is rubbish! These repulsive little slimeballs will never smell like roses, no matter how much shower-gel and bath salts we add!" Malfoy declared with the expression of sheer disgust on his pale face.
Hagrid shook his bushy head in disbelief. He couldn't imagine that someone could feel disgust from these wonderful creatures. "Just continue it, Malfoy."
"Okay, but if any of my other teachers will say that I stink, I'll tell them that it is your fault, because you made me fondle these ugly… ouch!" a self-respecting Martian had just bit Draco's leg. "I'll… I'll tell Father that you are breeding monsters again, Hagrid!" his eyes flared with anger.
"Easy does it, Malfoy!" Ron cut in. "Your father isn't in the position to harm Hagrid – or anyone – anymore, since my dad caught him hiding those illegal dark magic artefacts in your mansion."
"You damned father has a finger in every pie, Weasel, but it won't remain that way forever, I can assure you!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Hagrid yelled. "As long as I'm the teacher here, no one's allowed ter threaten anyone else, understood? This especially concerns yeh, Malfoy."
Draco's face turned red with fury. "No one has the right to speak to me like that! Do you understand, you over-sized imbecile?!?"
Hagrid stood up. "We don' need yer company here, Malfoy. Yeh're constantly ruinin' my classes – I'm fed up with yeh! Go, and don' yeh ever come ter Care o' magical creatures again!"
"Who the hell wants to come, you foolish, shaggy, no-brain half-giant?" Draco shouted back and run away.
* * * * *
Dudley didn't look back, just ran, ran, ran, until he arrived at the door of a shop called Borgin & Burkes. It seemed strangely familiar to him.
He slapped his forehead. This was the store he had come out of!
He knew he couldn't waste any time loafing before the shop window. He peered inside, but still didn't see the owner around. He entered, slammed the door shut behind himself and hurried to the fireplace. There was no bowl with Floo-powder on it.
Dudley got desperate. How could he leave this dreadful place then?
He looked around, trying to find something – anything - that looked at least a bit like Floo-powder. He opened some boxes, peered under the tables, but didn't find anything he could use. He stepped to a big crate that gave out a funny smell. He opened it and saw the most horrendous mummy one could ever think of. It looked even worse than the Aliens he used to kill in his video games. He slammed the crate shut and pressed his hands on his mouth, trying not to vomit. No such luck. He ran to the closest bucket to spill his guts into it, but stopped when he saw what the bucket contained.
Floo-powder!
He didn't feel sick anymore.
He took a pinch of the powder, threw it into the flames and said (this time clearly): "Hogwarts!", and off he went.
* * * * *
Draco dropped himself into a chair in the Slytherin common room, fuming. He hated that crazy half-giant! The real problem for him, however, was not Hagrid, but the fact that he had alarmed the press in vain, because Potter managed to flee. Now the whole castle and its park were packed with rampaging scribblers trying to catch students and teachers for interviews. He, Draco, had been more than willing to stain Harry's honour – and Professor Snape, too – but the others got bored with answering Rita's and the other journalists' annoying questions. Hundreds of articles had been published with titles like 'The Potter scandal', 'Harry – still honourable?', 'Shame on Hogwarts' and 'The coward on the run'.
But Draco wasn't satisfied, because Potter wasn't there to hear all the abuses – and to hear Draco mock him, too. Because it was Malfoy's greatest dream - to see Potter in shame.
A rat scurried out from a corner, trying to reach the small hole in the opposite wall. It didn't have time to do so, because a red bolt from Draco's wand hit it. The rat dissolved into a small cloud of yellowish smoke.
Draco smirked. He felt a bit better.
*If only that rat had been Potter!* he sighed and leaned back into an armchair to watch the flames in the fireplace. He wished he could send a nice little conflagration to Privet Drive. It would provide a wonderful front-page story: 'Fire devastating a Muggle family – to our greatest regret the charred remains of a young wizard were also found among the ruins. The Boy Who Lived now died. His memory lives on in our aching hearts.'
The blond boy's mouth tucked into a smirk. If only he could contribute to Potter's undoing… or to Potter's disappearance…
A funny crackling noise shook him out of his reveries. The noise was coming out of the flames.
He knew this sound: it meant that someone was coming through the fireplace-network.
How strange. At Hogwarts no one used Floo-powder. It was one of the house-rules that students weren't allowed to travel by Floo.
Draco straightened in his armchair, his wand at the ready, waiting for the visitor.
In the next instant a blonde, very fat guy burst out of the fireplace, falling facedown on the cold stone floor. The boy shook his head, looked up and saw the tip of a wand pointed at him.
"I didn't commit anything, please, don't kill me!" he shouted.
"Shut up and stand up, you Muggle!" the boy at the other end of the wand said.
"Muggle? How do you know that I'm…?" the fat boy blinked.
"I know all British wizards of your age, fellow. And you don't look like any of them… well, you remind me a bit of Crabbe and Goyle, but even they don't look this stupid."
The newcomer blinked again. "What? Uh, where am I?"
"At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." came the answer.
"And who… who are you?"
"That depends on who YOU are, Porky…"
"I'm… Dudley Dursley." the boy offered his pudgy right hand, but Draco didn't take it.
"Dursley?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "I know that name… aren't you that asshole cousin of Potters?"
"Yeah, that's me!" Dudley nodded eagerly. "And you?"
"Me?" Draco grinned. "I, am your best friend in the world."
* * * * *
Dudley gaped at the other boy. "I don't get it."
Draco gave him a belittling smile. "You are his cousin. He hates you. You hate him… and that's just what I need, pal."
Dudley scraped his head. He still didn't understand it.
"You know, Dudley, before you arrived I was just musing how I could rid the world of your cousin."
At that statement Dudley's eyes flashed. "Rid the world of Harry?"
"Exactly." Draco nodded. "And you, my friend, could help me."
"Me? How?"
"Easily, Dudlicky." Malfoy smirked. "You are living in the same house as he is, aren't you? This way you can talk to him, enter his room, and even… access the food he eats."
"Do you want me to poison him?" Dudley gave him a disapproving look. "I hate him, but would never kill him. Never."
"Who told you to kill him?" Draco smiled. "We don't need to be that rude."
"No?"
"No." Malfoy shook his head. "The solution to our problem is here." he pulled a small vial out of his robe.
"Why? What's this, if it isn't poison?" Dudley knitted his eyebrows.
"Just some potion that Professor Snape taught us today."
"I… I don't want to get involved in this." Dudley said. He couldn't believe this guy that the vial didn't contain poison. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life in a cell where there weren't any televisions and he couldn't watch Pokemon. "I didn't come here to harm Harry. I just…"
"Yes? Why have you come then?" Draco looked interested.
"Well, because of Millicent…" Dudley blushed and cast down his eyes.
"Millicent? Bulstrode?" Malfoy didn't dare to trust his ears. Did this porky pig come to see the other porky pig? Well… why not? They made a good match. "How do you know her?"
Dudley blushed even more. "She visited Harry in our house."
"Huh?"
"She came to see Harry because she has a crush on him, I guess."
"What?" Malfoy felt as if he had got his birthday and Christmas presents at once. This was too good to be true. "She is smitten with Potter?"
"'Fraid so."
"And you fell in love with Millicent???" Draco asked with an elated expression.
"Guess so." Dudley shrugged.
"Wonderful!" Draco yelled.
"Wonderful? Are you crazy? She loves him, not me!" the fat boy rumbled.
Malfoy didn't answer at once, but his face revealed malicious joy.
"Why… why are ya looking at me like that?" Dudley asked, his voice trembling. The devilish smile on the other boy's face scared him.
"You have to help me, Duddy."
"I told you that I wouldn't!"
"Oh, yes, you will." Malfoy sneered. "Or do you want Potter to get YOUR Millicent? Yes?"
Dudley shook his head.
"Glad to hear. You have to fight for your love, pal. And the only way to gain her is to get rid of your cousin. Understood?"
"Yea." Dudley gulped. He started to get really nervous and wished that he'd never decided to try the fireplace network. He wished he had never even met Millicent.
But there was no way to back out now. He loved that girl, and didn't want to lose her – especially not to Harry.
"Okay. Tell me what I have to do."