Author's Notes: I've just realised that there actually aren't that many
chapters left of this. And since I've realised that, I decided that I'd
say so, just to give you all fair warning, since from some of your reviews
I think a couple of you might have heart attacks if I just, y'know, ended
it.
Disclaimer: See part one.
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The next day was the day that I'd subconsciously been waiting for, for about seven years, I guess. It was the day that I got to pound Blaise Zabini into the floor...and it wasn't even my fault. Well. In my opinion, at least.
It was at breakfast, and since I'm not a morning person I collected my porridge - which had even less sugar in now - and was sitting at out usual table, eating it without paying attention to anyone else in the world.
Until Harry walked in, that is. Memories of the previous night flooded me, and I gritted my teeth. Damn him to hell and back, he'd still be perfect at the end of it.
And if he heard me saying such sentimental stuff I don't know what he'd say. Probably that I was eating too many mushy peas, that we got served every single lunch without fail - except Sundays, when it was carrots instead.
Black was with Harry, looking perhaps a little worse for wear after spending a night in his cell. Well, everyone adjusted to the caterwauling of Mack after a while, it was just a question of time.
Harry sat opposite me, Black beside me. Rubber, who was sitting next to Harry, winced. Black, as pretty much everyone knew by now, was a fairly loud, very talkative person.
I wouldn't say that I wasn't talkative, it's just, well, I'm not at my best in the morning.
Perhaps it wasn't Black's smartest idea ever to sit next to me in the morning. But I couldn't say it was his stupidest idea - that honour fell to going after Peter Pettigrew instead of looking after Harry.
"Morning, Draco," he greeted me cheerfully. Rubber and Harry both flinched. I barely lifted my eyes from my bowl, and muttered something unintelligible. To the normal, sane person, this would have been enough to make them go away.
Of course, I don't think anyone had ever classed Sirius Black as sane. From across the table both Harry and Rubber were making 'stop, stop' gestures. Eddie had made the mistake of cracking one joke too many on a morning just such as this, and he'd ended up with a black eye, so they all knew what I was like in the mornings. I'd apologised to Eddie, of course. If I punched Black I wasn't sure that I would.
"Draco? Are you okay?" Black ventured.
I put down my spoon carefully, took a deep swallow of water, and then poured the rest of the water over his head.
I didn't wait to see his reaction. Somehow I knew it wouldn't be to give me a bunch of roses. I dumped my bowl and was halfway to the door when Blaise Zabini stepped in front of me.
I halted. He was glaring at me as if I was a piece of dirt on his shoe.
"Whore," he spat at me.
For a whole three seconds I was frozen in place. Then his word sank in.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I breathed. "You're calling *me* a whore? Looked in the mirror recently, Zabini?"
"Hey," said Harry warningly from where he was sitting. "Drop it, both of you." We ignored him.
"Can't get your own, Malfoy?" Zabini hissed. "Have to go stealing someone else's?"
What? I risked a confused glance at Harry, and was punched hard in the jaw, sending me sprawling back a few paces. Zabini turned and started walking away. Oh no. Oh no, Zabini did *not* just punch me and expect to get away with it.
I leapt on him. I managed a good couple of punches by the time he threw me off and shoved at me. I ducked out of the way, and punched him again. I was ready to do it again when I was roughly pulled back. I realised that the whole dining room was ringing with noise, and that several men were holding Zabini down.
I tried to pull away from whoever was holding me, but I couldn't, so I knew it was Claw. I relaxed, and he slowly loosened his grip.
"That was very, very stupid," he snapped at me, clearly infuriated. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I don't think he was, particularly," Harry said softly, appearing next to Claw, his eyes holding the faintest hint of disappointment. I didn't care. From what I could see of Zabini, he had two black eyes, a bloody nose, and a split lip. My only damage was a bruised jaw...and possible several knocked-out teeth.
Dammit, I didn't care one bit. I felt...free. I'd had the shadow of Zabini hanging over me for seven years, mostly in the physical form of the identical scars on my wrists, but I'd knocked him to the ground and spoiled his pretty face, and made him realise that maybe, just maybe the world didn't revolve around him.
The fact that several guards were approaching me with grim expressions, obviously intent on taking me to isolation, didn't really do much to dampen my mood.
Especially since I could see two guards grabbing Zabini as well. Despite Harry's disappointed look, despite the furious glares I was getting from all my friends, I grinned unrepentantly.
We were half-way to isolation when *it* happened.
The thing that wasn't supposed to happen for another three weeks.
The thing that made a huge explosion, although Zabini and I couldn't see what had caused it.
The guards looked at each other, and then ran towards where the explosion seemed to have happened. I looked at Zabini, and he looked at me.
Then we followed the guards, along with half the rest of the prison. Somehow I found myself next to Harry - and I was glad of it with what faced us at the main entrance.
The door had been burst inwards, and was now sitting in the middle of the alley, a bulk of melted metal.
The guards who had left Zabini and I were on the floor, stunned.
Several very familiar people were standing in the doorway, brandishing wands. More of them spilled in, spreading out around us prisoners, and around the prison, obviously looking for guards.
We were all too dumbfounded to say anything. That is, until a dark-haired man with a habitual sneer stepped forward from the newcomers.
"You weren't supposed to be here for three weeks!" Sirius snapped, stepping forward away from the rest of us. "What happened?"
"Change of plans in case they fed you Veritaserum," Snape said simply, his eyes roving over the men gathered here. "Where are the rest of the guards?" he demanded.
I almost smiled at the familiar, caustic voice.
"In the gallery, back there," Sirius jerked a thumb behind him. "You got most of them though, Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy obligingly started a fight, which got most of them down here." Snape's eyes snapped to meet mine, and I nodded slightly in greeting. Then his eyes drifted to Harry, next to me, who looked...
I don't know how he looked. He looked almost scared, which was strange, because I don't think I've ever seen him scared, not even when we were children. It was disconcerting, and I could tell that it was disturbing everyone who looked at him.
Finally Harry stirred. "You can lock the guards up in isolation," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "If you have the keys it would help."
"We've got better than that," Snape told him, an odd note in his voice. From a pocket of his robes he withdrew a slender wand. Harry's eyes widened slightly, and he held his hand out, palm up.
The wand flew easily to him. Snape frowned slightly. If he was trying to figure Harry out, I wondered if I should tell him not to bother.
Harry looked up from his study of his wand, and glanced at me for a moment before turning to Gary, Claw, Rubber and Eddie.
"Get everyone to go back to their cells," he said in a low tone. "Don't lock them in, just make sure they understand that they have to be in a cell - any cell, I don't care - until we can sort this all out."
"Right," Claw said doubtfully. "What about Zabini, Birdie and that lot? They won't go willingly."
"I'll punch him if it'll help," I offered, smirking. Eddie rolled his eyes at me, and I subsided. Okay, perhaps that hadn't been quite the right thing to say.
"I'll sort them out," Harry said grimly. "This place will be swarming with resistance soon, they'll need to get it locked down, and until they do we *stay out of their way*, understand?"
"Understood," Gary nodded quickly. "C'mon." He started going from inmate to inmate, quickly talking to them until they started moving off to their respective cells. Claw and Eddie started doing the same, and Rubber only spared me a considering glance - for some obscure reason - before he did the same.
"Do you want me to help them?" I asked Harry quietly. He shook his head, a little desperation on his face.
"No, I - I think I need..." He trailed off, unwilling to actually say it. I nodded quickly.
"Okay," I agreed. "I'll stay." We turned back as one to meet Snape.
"Potter," he nodded. I winced, and fully comprehended why Harry had wanted me here.
None of these people had a clue in hell how to deal with Harry.
"Snape," Harry greeted. "Everyone's getting out of your way, in one cell or another. The guards, as I said, can go into isolation - Draco can show your people where that is. If you need to know anything about the prison, one or other of us will be around but I'd advise against asking Zabini or Birdie, since they'll go out of their way to hinder you."
Snape was staring at Harry with a strange kind of bewildered expression. Well, Harry had changed a lot. He could hardly have expected to waltz in here and find Harry the same person as he'd always been.
"Draco, I'm going up to my cell," Harry told me, ignoring Snape for a moment. "Will you - "
"Yes," I agreed. "Of course."
Harry spared a last glance at Snape and Sirius before moving down to Godric Alley and disappearing towards his cell.
I met Snape's eyes again.
"Welcome to Talsgate, Professor Snape," I said evenly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To be continued.
Replies to reviews:
Hippy Flower(Voldie's kid - sigh. Lovely three-layer chocolate cake. Damn. And I'd intended to keep my chocolate weakness a secret from you guys. As to your question...I can't answer that. I really can't. Which probably gives you a clue anyway.
whitebearwrites - thank you!
Piri Lupin-Snape - thank you! And about your fic: I'm going to go and read it and I don't give a damn if it's inspired by me or if you loosely borrowed anything. I mean, all fanfiction is borrowed from somewhere, right? If shorter means more updates, I'll try to go for both! I'm posting far quicker than I thought I would...
Draco Malfoy N Harry Potter - Ooh, I'm nice! So now I'm even with yesterday, and I have a *feeling* that I may get another chapter out before the day is over. Actually, I'm fairly sure that I will.
Celestialkatie - thank you! I don't leave that nasty cliffhangers, do I? Okay, maybe I do, but it's all for the best, really. And I do update very quickly...
Squeegee - I'm not a machine, I swear! I'll repeat: I'm on summer holiday with nothing else whatsoever to do. Besides which, I'm more hooked on this fic than you lot are...and I know what's happening! And I have now said something about Severus - happy?
gryffcat (too lazy to log in!) - thank you!
bluevanilla - thank you! I am not evil, so say...many people! And I update very, very, very quickly...this chapter is up, what, three hours after the last one? See, I'm not evil! I'm not!!
Blanche - you lost so many chapters because I seem to be slipping into a habit of updating three times a day, although that may climb up to four times a day today. And the shower scene...ah well, this is PG-13, not NC- 17, and I'm not willing to change the rating. I leave it to your imagination.
Disclaimer: See part one.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next day was the day that I'd subconsciously been waiting for, for about seven years, I guess. It was the day that I got to pound Blaise Zabini into the floor...and it wasn't even my fault. Well. In my opinion, at least.
It was at breakfast, and since I'm not a morning person I collected my porridge - which had even less sugar in now - and was sitting at out usual table, eating it without paying attention to anyone else in the world.
Until Harry walked in, that is. Memories of the previous night flooded me, and I gritted my teeth. Damn him to hell and back, he'd still be perfect at the end of it.
And if he heard me saying such sentimental stuff I don't know what he'd say. Probably that I was eating too many mushy peas, that we got served every single lunch without fail - except Sundays, when it was carrots instead.
Black was with Harry, looking perhaps a little worse for wear after spending a night in his cell. Well, everyone adjusted to the caterwauling of Mack after a while, it was just a question of time.
Harry sat opposite me, Black beside me. Rubber, who was sitting next to Harry, winced. Black, as pretty much everyone knew by now, was a fairly loud, very talkative person.
I wouldn't say that I wasn't talkative, it's just, well, I'm not at my best in the morning.
Perhaps it wasn't Black's smartest idea ever to sit next to me in the morning. But I couldn't say it was his stupidest idea - that honour fell to going after Peter Pettigrew instead of looking after Harry.
"Morning, Draco," he greeted me cheerfully. Rubber and Harry both flinched. I barely lifted my eyes from my bowl, and muttered something unintelligible. To the normal, sane person, this would have been enough to make them go away.
Of course, I don't think anyone had ever classed Sirius Black as sane. From across the table both Harry and Rubber were making 'stop, stop' gestures. Eddie had made the mistake of cracking one joke too many on a morning just such as this, and he'd ended up with a black eye, so they all knew what I was like in the mornings. I'd apologised to Eddie, of course. If I punched Black I wasn't sure that I would.
"Draco? Are you okay?" Black ventured.
I put down my spoon carefully, took a deep swallow of water, and then poured the rest of the water over his head.
I didn't wait to see his reaction. Somehow I knew it wouldn't be to give me a bunch of roses. I dumped my bowl and was halfway to the door when Blaise Zabini stepped in front of me.
I halted. He was glaring at me as if I was a piece of dirt on his shoe.
"Whore," he spat at me.
For a whole three seconds I was frozen in place. Then his word sank in.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I breathed. "You're calling *me* a whore? Looked in the mirror recently, Zabini?"
"Hey," said Harry warningly from where he was sitting. "Drop it, both of you." We ignored him.
"Can't get your own, Malfoy?" Zabini hissed. "Have to go stealing someone else's?"
What? I risked a confused glance at Harry, and was punched hard in the jaw, sending me sprawling back a few paces. Zabini turned and started walking away. Oh no. Oh no, Zabini did *not* just punch me and expect to get away with it.
I leapt on him. I managed a good couple of punches by the time he threw me off and shoved at me. I ducked out of the way, and punched him again. I was ready to do it again when I was roughly pulled back. I realised that the whole dining room was ringing with noise, and that several men were holding Zabini down.
I tried to pull away from whoever was holding me, but I couldn't, so I knew it was Claw. I relaxed, and he slowly loosened his grip.
"That was very, very stupid," he snapped at me, clearly infuriated. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I don't think he was, particularly," Harry said softly, appearing next to Claw, his eyes holding the faintest hint of disappointment. I didn't care. From what I could see of Zabini, he had two black eyes, a bloody nose, and a split lip. My only damage was a bruised jaw...and possible several knocked-out teeth.
Dammit, I didn't care one bit. I felt...free. I'd had the shadow of Zabini hanging over me for seven years, mostly in the physical form of the identical scars on my wrists, but I'd knocked him to the ground and spoiled his pretty face, and made him realise that maybe, just maybe the world didn't revolve around him.
The fact that several guards were approaching me with grim expressions, obviously intent on taking me to isolation, didn't really do much to dampen my mood.
Especially since I could see two guards grabbing Zabini as well. Despite Harry's disappointed look, despite the furious glares I was getting from all my friends, I grinned unrepentantly.
We were half-way to isolation when *it* happened.
The thing that wasn't supposed to happen for another three weeks.
The thing that made a huge explosion, although Zabini and I couldn't see what had caused it.
The guards looked at each other, and then ran towards where the explosion seemed to have happened. I looked at Zabini, and he looked at me.
Then we followed the guards, along with half the rest of the prison. Somehow I found myself next to Harry - and I was glad of it with what faced us at the main entrance.
The door had been burst inwards, and was now sitting in the middle of the alley, a bulk of melted metal.
The guards who had left Zabini and I were on the floor, stunned.
Several very familiar people were standing in the doorway, brandishing wands. More of them spilled in, spreading out around us prisoners, and around the prison, obviously looking for guards.
We were all too dumbfounded to say anything. That is, until a dark-haired man with a habitual sneer stepped forward from the newcomers.
"You weren't supposed to be here for three weeks!" Sirius snapped, stepping forward away from the rest of us. "What happened?"
"Change of plans in case they fed you Veritaserum," Snape said simply, his eyes roving over the men gathered here. "Where are the rest of the guards?" he demanded.
I almost smiled at the familiar, caustic voice.
"In the gallery, back there," Sirius jerked a thumb behind him. "You got most of them though, Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy obligingly started a fight, which got most of them down here." Snape's eyes snapped to meet mine, and I nodded slightly in greeting. Then his eyes drifted to Harry, next to me, who looked...
I don't know how he looked. He looked almost scared, which was strange, because I don't think I've ever seen him scared, not even when we were children. It was disconcerting, and I could tell that it was disturbing everyone who looked at him.
Finally Harry stirred. "You can lock the guards up in isolation," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "If you have the keys it would help."
"We've got better than that," Snape told him, an odd note in his voice. From a pocket of his robes he withdrew a slender wand. Harry's eyes widened slightly, and he held his hand out, palm up.
The wand flew easily to him. Snape frowned slightly. If he was trying to figure Harry out, I wondered if I should tell him not to bother.
Harry looked up from his study of his wand, and glanced at me for a moment before turning to Gary, Claw, Rubber and Eddie.
"Get everyone to go back to their cells," he said in a low tone. "Don't lock them in, just make sure they understand that they have to be in a cell - any cell, I don't care - until we can sort this all out."
"Right," Claw said doubtfully. "What about Zabini, Birdie and that lot? They won't go willingly."
"I'll punch him if it'll help," I offered, smirking. Eddie rolled his eyes at me, and I subsided. Okay, perhaps that hadn't been quite the right thing to say.
"I'll sort them out," Harry said grimly. "This place will be swarming with resistance soon, they'll need to get it locked down, and until they do we *stay out of their way*, understand?"
"Understood," Gary nodded quickly. "C'mon." He started going from inmate to inmate, quickly talking to them until they started moving off to their respective cells. Claw and Eddie started doing the same, and Rubber only spared me a considering glance - for some obscure reason - before he did the same.
"Do you want me to help them?" I asked Harry quietly. He shook his head, a little desperation on his face.
"No, I - I think I need..." He trailed off, unwilling to actually say it. I nodded quickly.
"Okay," I agreed. "I'll stay." We turned back as one to meet Snape.
"Potter," he nodded. I winced, and fully comprehended why Harry had wanted me here.
None of these people had a clue in hell how to deal with Harry.
"Snape," Harry greeted. "Everyone's getting out of your way, in one cell or another. The guards, as I said, can go into isolation - Draco can show your people where that is. If you need to know anything about the prison, one or other of us will be around but I'd advise against asking Zabini or Birdie, since they'll go out of their way to hinder you."
Snape was staring at Harry with a strange kind of bewildered expression. Well, Harry had changed a lot. He could hardly have expected to waltz in here and find Harry the same person as he'd always been.
"Draco, I'm going up to my cell," Harry told me, ignoring Snape for a moment. "Will you - "
"Yes," I agreed. "Of course."
Harry spared a last glance at Snape and Sirius before moving down to Godric Alley and disappearing towards his cell.
I met Snape's eyes again.
"Welcome to Talsgate, Professor Snape," I said evenly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To be continued.
Replies to reviews:
Hippy Flower(Voldie's kid - sigh. Lovely three-layer chocolate cake. Damn. And I'd intended to keep my chocolate weakness a secret from you guys. As to your question...I can't answer that. I really can't. Which probably gives you a clue anyway.
whitebearwrites - thank you!
Piri Lupin-Snape - thank you! And about your fic: I'm going to go and read it and I don't give a damn if it's inspired by me or if you loosely borrowed anything. I mean, all fanfiction is borrowed from somewhere, right? If shorter means more updates, I'll try to go for both! I'm posting far quicker than I thought I would...
Draco Malfoy N Harry Potter - Ooh, I'm nice! So now I'm even with yesterday, and I have a *feeling* that I may get another chapter out before the day is over. Actually, I'm fairly sure that I will.
Celestialkatie - thank you! I don't leave that nasty cliffhangers, do I? Okay, maybe I do, but it's all for the best, really. And I do update very quickly...
Squeegee - I'm not a machine, I swear! I'll repeat: I'm on summer holiday with nothing else whatsoever to do. Besides which, I'm more hooked on this fic than you lot are...and I know what's happening! And I have now said something about Severus - happy?
gryffcat (too lazy to log in!) - thank you!
bluevanilla - thank you! I am not evil, so say...many people! And I update very, very, very quickly...this chapter is up, what, three hours after the last one? See, I'm not evil! I'm not!!
Blanche - you lost so many chapters because I seem to be slipping into a habit of updating three times a day, although that may climb up to four times a day today. And the shower scene...ah well, this is PG-13, not NC- 17, and I'm not willing to change the rating. I leave it to your imagination.