(A/N and thank yous at the end of the chapter.)

"Sleeping With the Enemy"

Chapter 9: Secrets Revealed (Part Two)

~VIII~

"Kaleb!" Hermione exclaimed when she found the girl braiding her short, dark blue hair in the bathroom, sitting on the edge of a porcelain bowl, her tongue poking out from the side of her mouth as she worked. She finished tying the last rubber band and turned to her friend.

"Heya, Herm."

"Have you seen Harry?"

"Um. Lemme see...nope. Isn't he upstairs?"

Hermione was on the verge of panic. "No! Seamus can't find him!"

Kaleb's aquamarine eyes grew slightly wider and she stood. "Maybe he fell in a hole or something. I'm sure it'll be okay Herm." Slinging her arm around Hermione's shoulders, she directed them towards the common room. "We better go look for him!" she declared, snatching her robe on the way out. "You know... just in case.

~IX~

Harry had never been more uncomfortable in his life. He slumped against one wall and wondered when exactly had he asked for all this? He sighed wearily as Evan approached him and got to his feet. The 7th year was bigger and stronger than Harry, but (he hoped) he was quicker. Bracing for the attack, he saw Evan's shoulders roll back and instinctively ducked the punch meant for his jaw and kicked upward into the Slytherin's stomach. He rolled out and away as amber eyes inspected him levelly.

"Very good, Potter," he nodded at Harry and advanced again. Harry cast off his robe and stood ready in an undershirt and shorts, normally pajamas. But they would serve well here. Evan drove straight at him, and Harry leapt to the side but landed the wrong way on his ankle. He twisted painfully to the ground and clutched it for a moment, but scrambled up. Evan was still coming at him. This time the stocky youth caught him in the gut, and Harry doubled over, wheezing. Evan pushed him roughly over and stood above him. Small applause from the viewers of Evan's cult reached Harry's ears and made him angry-- He tackled Evan, throwing them both to the ground. Harry sat atop the Slytherin, trying to reign in his anger.

"Stop it." he said calmly. "Let me go." Evan just grinned and with a huge effort, rolled the smaller teen off of him and pinned him to the ground. He threw several punches at the prone body, and Harry's nose started to bleed. Zapped of all strength, Harry could only lie there and wonder when it would end. Seeing that his opponent had given up, Evan released him and addressed his followers.

"Well well, the Great Harry Potter, defeated? And even You-Know-Who couldn't do it. Don't you see what we can do? What we can become?" Evan's eyes were radiating power. "No one can stop us!" Murmurs of agreement met his words, and someone started cheering.

Just then, a commotion outside occupied everyone's attention. The small group guarding the door carried something in and set it down at Evan's feet. Though his vision was blurred without his glasses, Harry still saw the telltale flash of silver-blonde, enough to know who it was...

"Draco!" he yelled, scrambling up and reaching for his lover. There was laughter but Harry didn't notice. Two pairs of strong arms hauled him away from his beloved, where he struggled mightily but could not get loose.

A man skulked in behind the crowd and Harry squinted at him. He looked familiar, was that-?

"Mr. Filch!" he gasped, audible relief flooding through him. At this, everyone laughed and Harry's ears burned red while his mind tried to understand-- wait, Filch-- and Harry Saw It All. Dumbledore gone, free access through the halls, his own sadistic pleasure-- Harry slumped in defeat, letting his captors hold him up. The caretaker leaned over the prone figure and breathed green dust over him. It glittered malevolently in the candlelight and Harry was reminded of the sickening green light of the Killing Curse. He shuddered. Then Filch stood up, nodded approvingly to Evan, and left. There was an apprehensive silence during which Harry watched the rise and fall of Draco's chest and wished that he wouldn't wake up, that the tenuous peace would last because when Draco woke up something very bad was going to happen, he could tell. It was just one of those things. But then the Slytherin stirred and groggily sat up. He looked around and Harry watched the dawning horror grow on his face that, when his eyes met Harry's transformed immediately to fear.

"Nice of you to join us, Malfoy," Evan sneered.

"Go to hell, Cognevoc," Draco spat.

"Aw, be a good boy, Drakkykins," he warned mockingly. Draco got up, eyes narrowing. "Fuck you. What the fuck is this about? I gave my part; you've had your fun. Let u-*me* go."

"I said," Evan spoke quietly, "Be nice." he nodded to someone and then Harry was on the floor nursing a cracked rib and trying to contain his groans. For a split second, Draco looked horrified, then praying that Harry would forgive him, he forced out a laugh.

"What's that supposed to do?" he asked bemusedly. "You think I care if you beat up Potter?" Oh, this was killing him. "Go ahead." //sorry love sorry, God...//

Evan smiled and shrugged. "Suit yourself. Gentleman?" he raised his eyebrows, and they pummeled Harry's body. They knocked him back into the wall and blood started trickling from his mouth. Draco watched with frozen silver eyes-- he'd done this. Evan looked at Malfoy, then signaled for Crabbe and Goyle to stop.

He crossed the room and hauled Harry to his feet. The dazed teen coughed then winced as a strong hand went around his mouth and an equally strong arm wrapped around his body and pinned his arms to his sides. "Admit it, you don't want to see precious Harrrrry," he drawled out his name, "get hurt like this, do you Malfoy? Just tell us," he said slyly, "and I'll stop." Draco hesitated. He knew how this game was played and it wouldn't make things any better to concede to their rules. He stubbornly shook his head.

"It doesn't make any difference to me," he shrugged, and Evan tightened his hold on Harry. A muffled scream tore out from behind Evan's fingers and he smiled maliciously. Harry twisted in pain; the cracked-now-broken rib hurt like a bitch. Evan was still grinning, and, keeping eye contact with Draco the whole time, he twisted Harry's chin and slowly leaned down and--Draco caught his breath. Evan kissed Harry; it wasn't romantic or sexual, it was simply, primitively possessive. Blood boiled through Draco's veins into a seething fury. He lunged forward but someone shoved him to the ground before he could do anything. Something clattered out of the thick folds of Draco's robes and skittered across the slick wood floor to a stop at Evan's feet. There was silence while everyone in the room scrutinized the object.

"My glasses," Draco said weakly. Evan leaned over and picked up the glasses. He tried to place them on Harry but the Gryffindor moved his head defiantly. Evan glared at him, then motioned to someone, and Draco felt the pressure of a foot pressing his head into the floor. Harry stopped struggling and quietly let Evan slide he glasses onto his face. He blinked; he could see again, but he found that he did not want to.

"What do you *want*?!" he said as the hopelessness of the situation crashed down upon him.

~X~

Earlier that evening, Severus quietly entered the Infirmary. In the darkness he cautiously moved to the far side of the room and sat on the bed next to the sleeping Gryffindor. He watched Neville's slow, rhythmic breathing and thought about many things- about what it means to have someone to care for you. Neville sighed and turned over in his sleep. He woke up a little when his body came in contact with the Potions Master.

"Gram?" he asked, his voice think with long gone tears and sleep.

"No." he hesitated. "It's... Severus."

"Mmm." Neville murmured incoherently. "Okay." and he dropped back to sleep, curling up next to Snape. The man stayed there, watching and thinking and feeling the warmth of another human being.

He only knew he had fallen asleep when he woke up. The boy was crying in his sleep. Severus hurriedly shook him out of his nightmare. Neville sat up, clinging to his teacher, sniffling slightly.

"Professor?" he asked, voice shaking.

"Come on, Mr. Lon-- Neville," said Severus, scooping the small teen up and setting him carefully on his feet. "I've got something that will help you sleep." The Gryffindor nodded and clung to the adult. Severus put a protective arm around his young charge, drawing him into the warmth of his cloak, and together they walked slowly out of the Infirmary. It was 11:30.

~XI~

Kaleb and Hermione tiptoed through the darkened halls, bare feet making virtually no sound. Kaleb had an insanely precise sense of direction and was able to lead them through Hogwarts without losing her bearings. They hurried, Kaleb pausing occasionally to get the "feel" of the area.

They nearly stumbled into a group of them clustered about a door. All the same, someone noticed them. They were hooded and sinister, and Hermione almost screamed. But Kaleb held her ground.

"Aw, Herm, I do think we missed the soiree" she said cheekily, hands on her hips. "Or at least it will be. Party's over folks. We'll just be taking our boy who lived back now..."

"*Lived* being the key word," a voice promised.

"Let Harry go." Someone laughed, and Hermione with a shock recognized the voice.

"Cho!" she exclaimed, her eyes going wide. Kaleb turned incredulously to her friend, slow on the uptake.

"Cho? What ab-"

The girl removed her hood; it was indeed the Ravenclaw Cho Chang. Her eyes glinted cruelly. "Oh, I would Kaleb Okun. Potter killed Cedric. I loved Cedric." Her eyes saddened for a moment. "Potter loves Malfoy. So we're going to hurt Malfoy," she said maliciously.

"*Malfoy?*" Hermione gasped. How had she let something like that fly over her head, unnoticed?

"Ever heard the phrase 'two wrongs *don't* make a right?" Kaleb yelled. "Bloody whackos.." she murmured, trying to fend off the oncoming headache.

Cho stepped closer, and Kaleb instinctively moved in front of Hermione. "Go away." Cho said in a low voice. "This is your only chance. Leave."

But Kaleb, being the valiantly stupid, or stupidly valiant, Gryffindor that she was, wouldn't leave her friend to this. "No way. I'm not abandoning Harry to you bastards!"

Cho shook her head. "You're stupid, then. You've just provided us with extra fun tonight," she smiled wickedly and spread her arms. The others surrounded them. Kaleb chuckled nervously.

"My kind of fun is turning people interesting colors. You don't want to do this," she argued with the bitter Ravenclaw with a disarming smile.

Hermione blanched. "I think she does," she whispered into Kaleb's ear. "Let's get out of here-- we can't help Harry if we get caught, too!" Kaleb reluctantly nodded. She held up her hands.

"Look, we're leaving, okay?" Cho laughed.

"Go ahead, if you think you can," she offered. Hands suddenly reached for them, and Kaleb bolted, dragging Hermione with her. They were pursued, but thanks to Kaleb's excellent sense of direction they were able to lose them. The girls ran back towards the tower, frightened. Neither knew what to do. They nearly knocked over Snape and Neville, coming back from the Infirmary.

"Professor!" Hermione exclaimed. Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Harry, and Malfoy! They're going to-" Hermione pointed in the direction they had come from. Snape nodded, a change coming over him.

"Ms. Granger, you and Ms. Okun will please take Neville to my quarters-- and stay in there!" he warned. "Lock the door! I shall deal with this." and he faded into the gloom.

"Aww man. There goes all the action. C'mon, Nev." said Kaleb kindly, leading them towards the dungeons.

"I hope he gets there in time," the boy whispered.

TBC

Tee hee, I'm excited, I wrote a controversial chapter!! ^_~ Anyway, I had 2 more scenes planned out for this chapter but I'm moving them to the next chapter because it falls in the "climatic" genre and that's what the next chapter is, the climax, and... the end. yes! Chapter 10 will be the last chapter. Whoa, I'm finishing a fic! ^__^ Anyway this week is really busy (play, stepdad's graduation, STAR WARS II!!!! to name a few) so please expect the last chapter in about 2-3 weeks. I'm sorry :(

Thanks to Klee, for lending me Kaleb and spicing up the fic, I would've sunk without ya!

And here are the thank yous to my reviewers, for both chapter 8 and the first part of chapter 9. I appreciate you!

Klee (you rock my socks! ^_^), Minime (England was awesome), Pythia, Do, Soul Dragon (eek! here it is!), Summer and Momocha (*stares at crowd of D/H lovers, mouth hanging open*), Cat Samwise, Eva Phoenix Potter (I know! :( poor Nev), ally, Mistress Vixen (^__^ Thanks for your review... whaddya think of Snape's situation?), Soulsister, ShinigamiStar, Gwen (yeah Evan's awful, isn't he? If Nev's experience is too much for you, check out my site, there's an alternate scene that you might dig. I had to write it for myself cuz I felt so bad for Neville!), coriander (Snape to the rescue! Odd hero, huh? I know ^_~ Just wait and see where it's going, and sorry I took so long. Quite a surprise, eh?), Evil Windstar (I hope these chapters cleared up any confusion, if not email me and I'll try and help ^_^), Sen'Ai (gotta hate those Slytherin bastards), Alynnia*McKinnon (I never like filch either), Arabwel, Morien Alexander (heh. Fun is *exactly* the word running through my mind, too ^_~), Teee (yes, more snuggling, *LOTS* in the next chapter to make up for the recent lack), holly (love ya, you dork), sams (yes, my trip was beyond my expectations, I had a wonderful time! thanks ^_^), Samsara (constructive criticism is always welcome; with the teachers, what can I say? There's a scene planned out that was supposed to go into this chapter dealing with McGonagall, so you'll see that soon. Thanks for the review!) katrina (filch is a pretty weird villain but he just *fit* this time), Ari (Methinks Harry's stupidity can be attributed to his worry about lovely Draco, but admittedly he was pretty dumb), Demeter (actually, in my mind Filch is just encouraging it, not teaching them for the most part), . (someone flamed but didn't leave their name, only "." I will not answer any such cowardly "review" he/she is brave enough to leave a name), scythefire, chrisseee667, Intangible Lollipop (quick enough for ya? *grin*), @_@, and Wyvern (look! no long wait this time! boyfriend stood you up? want me to beat him up? grrr boys are dumb. but listening to incubus always helps me, too. especially "A Certain Shade of green" and "Favorite Things" on the SCIENCE album. little tangent there. Next chapter will have lots of harry/draco goodness! ^_^)

Have a good week everyone, and start thinking of what to get me for my bday, it's in 13 days! yay!

~RainShadow