Father of Mine, Part IV
Third Person PoV
Special Thanks Out To:
Kimagure: You have no idea how happy I am that you're so happy with the story!
Rachel Hunt Good eye for catching that, my deepest gratitude for pointing that out! I always get those two mixed up.... Both derive pleasure from some form of pain.
Lil Mrs. Malfoy: NO! Don't die!!! I'll lose a person who'll review!!! (Hey! Joking, joking, put DOWN the HAMMER! *ducks for cover*) Anyway, here's more for ya.
Ginger Cat, The Gunslinger: I love your name! I absolutely HAD to say that, it's kewl! I thank you for the compliments, makes me feel all warm and tingly inside, lol.
Severa: Hey, at least you reviewed....I could say DEATH TO THE PURPLE TURBAN! But I'm not. Hehehe
A/N: Sappy little thing, but I needed to post something in order to make people remember it! Lol Besides, it gives Draco another chance to complain.
Disclaimer: Lethifolds and all that belong to...why do I even bother with this? If you have the slightest inkling to sue me for it, all you'll get is the HP soundtrack, an afghan, a grumpy cat, and 3 guinea pigs. Any takers...? Thought not. ^__~
Eye of the Snake
Draco stabbed at his breakfast listlessly. Quidditch season was upon Hogwarts and everybody was feeling it. Everybody but me, he sighed to himself. He glanced over to the Gryffindor Table where Potter and his friends were sitting, talking, laughing. Draco's stomach ached. Perfect Harry Potter, with his perfect life, and his not-so-perfect friends...Weasley said something while looking over at the Slytherin table. Potter laughed so hard, his glasses fell off, he started choking, fell out of his chair completely, and milk leaked out of his nose on top of everything else, making the Mudblood laugh even harder as she patted him on the back. Dork. He looked down his table wistfully. How come nobody ever laughed like that at this table? Pansy looked in her little compact, powdering her pale face so that it was even paler than usual. She thought it made her look pristine. Draco thought it made her look sick.
He was more fascinated with the little round mirror in the top of compact. It was so tiny, you could just slip it in your pocket. Slip it out during class and nobody would notice that much...Pansy caught sight of him staring in her general direction and giggled. He rolled his eyes, turning to look in the opposite direction at the High Table. McGonagall was there to keep order with a few others. Not even Dumble-bumm (as he called the Headmaster) was there. Maybe they were seeing to the Quidditch pitch and stands. He shoved his plate away from him, disgusted. Food would upset him even more.
"...get changed," Pansy was saying to him. Draco scowled at her, "What?" Pansy giggled flirtatiously. "I said you ought to go change. The match is in an hour and you need to be ready." Draco left without another word, much to her chagrin. Another year as Seeker, another year of demise by Potter...Well, that was something that would change. He was going to study every move Potter made and devise a plan of attack so that the Quidditch and House Cup wouldn't be stripped of Slytherin again. He let himself in the common rooms ('Anaconda' was the password) and dashed up to his room, snatching up his emerald green robes in a second and then whipped down the stairs before anyone would notice him.
I wonder if he's in. Draco slipped into Professor Snape's office quietly, adjusting the clasps to his robes. Didn't look like it, but then again, Snape was never seen if he didn't want to be. Figuring that since nobody was around and he didn't feel like going to the locker rooms to change, he'd just change here and if his 'father' didn't show up in a half hour, he'd go out to the field. He was stripped down to his boxers in front of the fire when he caught sight of a door slightly off to the left: A tiny bathroom, nothing more. But it has a mirror...He peered in it, trying to recall his world on the other side. Instead, he caught sight of little, pinkish-purple slashes across his chest, barely visible, but there nonetheless. Then there was the smooth patch of skin on his shoulder from this summer, and the little white crescent by his ear that his hair covered. His father's ring had given him that one. Draco scowled again, turning away from the mirror and padding back to the main room to his pile of clothes.
A huge, heavy black cloak plopped down and around him suddenly. "Wish I could say that you dropping in unannounced was a pleasant surprise, but I wasn't expecting you in such an...open state, shall we say," a strong baritone voice told him. Draco grinned, searching for an opening in the fathomless cloth. "I'm sorry, did I startle you?" he said sheepishly, voice muffled by the soft fabric. "Not really, as I had a pretty good idea on how covered you were from the amount of clothing strewn haphazardly around my office," came the reply. Draco said, "Sorry" once more and struggled to find the end of the cape, but gave up and started to walk back towards his clothes, bumping into things on the way. A hearty laugh came from wherever his teacher was standing. Draco protested weakly, "It's NOT FUNNY!"
Snape chuckled even more at that. "You look like some kind of demented Lethifold! That's what I'm laughing at," he said between laughs. The black blob in the center of the room shifted, two pointy projections coming out of its sides. Professor Snape assumed that Draco had put his hands on his hips. "Just give me my Quidditch robe and I'll be on my way, thank you very much," he said indignantly. There was a pause, then more weight was added to the already heavy cloak as Snape tossed the green robes on top of Draco. "MMPH!" Draco collapsed in a heap and his head popped out of the bundle. He picked the green apart from the black carefully as his teacher went over to the desk, rummaging through the top drawer, back turned to give him privacy.
"Your cloak smells like the cold," Draco remarked, dropping it onto Snape's head. "Fanks," his teacher said obscurely, words lost in the thick folds of cloth. Draco fixed his gloves and padding as Snape pulled the cloak over his shoulders and shook his lank hair straight again. "It should, as it just came from there," he said dryly. He shut the compartment with a bang. Draco became serious once more as he debated whether or not to discuss his feelings. He decided he would anyway.
"I'm nervous," he admitted, "I don't know why, but this is one of the first times and I don't like it." Snape regarded him coolly for a moment and Draco shifted uncomfortably. "Then keep the eye of the tiger," Snape said thoughtfully. "The what?" Draco said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. Gross, why would anybody want to carry a slimy eyeball around for? Snape smiled slightly at his reaction. "It means keep your eye on your task like a tiger does on it's prey and let the petty distractions fall away from you unheeded. When you can do that, you have a 'tiger's eye'," Snape explained patiently, "There is a gem named after it because of it's mysterious appearance. Sometimes a person keeps the stone on a chain around their neck to remind them to focus and for good luck. Doesn't always work, but it makes them feel better all the same."
"I think 'eye of the snake' would be better in this case, sir," Draco jested as he started towards the door. "Haven't you forgotten something?" Snape asked curtly. Draco turned and found him holding his pants out to him. He flushed slightly as he pulled them on. "I daresay that the girls would appreciate the show you would put on had you gotten out on the field and the wind kicked up." That made him blush even more. "See you after the game, Professor," he muttered. Snape shook his head, smiling.
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"Eye of the Tiger, Eye of the Tiger..." he reminded himself as he scanned the Quidditch field. Ravenclaw wasn't doing too badly. Crabbe and Goyle had made the team as Beaters and were doing all they could. That wasn't much, as they didn't see half of the moves the Chasers were making until it was too late. The Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang, was doing her best to keep out of Draco's way. Draco decided to have a bit of fun with him. First he glanced over to the Slytherin section of the grandstands and saw everyone cheering for him. A lone figure in black was watching stoically as he flashed past. Draco grinned to himself, good old Prof. Snape... "Eye of the Tiger!" he snapped at himself. That was one of the needless distractions Snape was talking about, he realized as he flicked his eyes around, looking for the Snitch. A splash of blue zoomed past, nearly unseating him.
He tightened his grip on his broom, intent on revenge, murderous intent clearly etched on his porcelain face, as he flew after it. A quick glance told him it was the impertinent Seeker. With a sneer to rival his mentor's, he shot off after the bloke and rammed his shoulders into her. She shrieked in surprise and was knocked off course. The lusty cheers of the Slytherins and the cries of outrage goaded Draco on to greater heights, filling him with a kind of pride that he always got whenever he pulled a trick out of his sleeve. Another glance back at his Head of House and the smirk on his face was all Draco needed to go after Cho again. He zoomed in, boxing her too close to the stadium so that she either had to pull up, pull down, or slow to a crawl in order to avoid getting run into the stands. The Slytherins were going crazy; they'd never seen Draco do this kind of planned attack. Usually he just did whatever popped into his head to whatever person got in his way.
Cho's face was a mask of fear and determination. Draco shouldered closer to her; she wasn't backing down from the threat of having her face carved onto the wall. Too bad for her, he thought as he swerved into her quickly, risking getting caught in the stands himself. Cho hit the stands with a sickening thud and fell out of the air, almost in slow motion. In a second, Draco saw the Snitch flutter down with her. Eye of the Tiger... He swooped down into a steep dive, racing her falling figure to the ground. He caught the Snitch just as he plowed himself into the ground with Cho. Everyone rushed to the edge of the stands to see. The two Seekers were splayed on the ground, breathing shallowly. "SLYTHERIN WINS!!" Seamus Finnegan shouted into the roar.
Still the Seekers didn't move. A hush came over the field as Madame Pomfrey rushed out onto the pitch, Professors Snape and Flitwick in tow.
A/N: Ok, I didn't plan for that to happen, it just....did! Not my usual style, but I was feeling happy for once.