Author's Note: Thank you so much for the people who comforted me about my exams! I love you all! Sorry it took a while. I was busy gloating over my presents and stuffing myself with food, if you know what I mean. ; )

I've also had a tumult of ideas for new stories over break. So while I've been writing down bits and pieces of those, I forgot this one! Hehe!

Author: The*Spangled*Pandemonium

Title: The Whole Truth

Chapter Title: Maelstrom

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Draco:

The hallway to the statue of Cerberus looked even more dusky and undesirable than I had ever seen it. A pallid glow shined apathetically from a dust-covered scone attached to the hard stone wall, and the tapestries portrayed horrific images were worn and haggard.

Crabbe, Goyle, and I were in one of the minor passageways stationed in the second floor, waiting for Harry and Ron to arrive. My two friends were flanked me, as they usually did, and I had chosen to lean somewhat arrogantly on a pillar embedded in the stone.

The air seemed to vibrate with soundlessness and unreleased tension. None of us could find anything to say.

I didn't know what to do.

Sure, I've fought duels before, and I knew enough curses to be a worthy challenge to Potter… but…my heart wasn't in it.

There was no wrath…no anticipation…no excitement, at the thought of fighting either of them.

There was nothing.

If I beat them in the duel, it would be a step away from winning back Hermione. And if I got my ass kicked, I wouldn't be happy with myself, and that wouldn't do a thing either.

God, what the fuck had I gotten myself into?

"They're late." Crabbe mumbled to himself, rubbing the toe of his shoe on the grimy floor.

Shaking my head distractedly. "No… We're early."

The blanket of silence was once again thrown over that unsettling corridor.

I gazed at a wall hanging of a Goblin rebellion. Through the centuries of soot and grime, I remembered seeing the image in one of the large boring books that Professor Binns made us read. Back when the sketches of these tapestries were being taken, they showed the gruesomeness of battle that cannot be portrayed properly in words.

I couldn't fight Potter. I had no reason to. Usually I was the one doing the challenging! I suspected something like this would happen, but I didn't really pay close attention to it. I figured I'd just hex Potter quickly and strut off. Simple. Classy. Malfoy-like. But now that I was actually here… I felt, well, not exactly weak-kneed, but somewhat weary.

Could I really find some way to weasel out of this mess?

I scraped the toe of my shoe nervously on the floor. The sound seemed to echo in the dull, unfiltered light.

"They're here." Goyle murmured quietly so our approaching rivals wouldn't hear.

Their footsteps were deafening to our quiet-accustomed ears. Two sets of feet, and unfortunately, the bodies of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley emerged from the end of the hallway.

As they saw me, eyes of both emerald and wood narrowed fiercely.

The next steps were taken slow and menacing. A calculated move on their part, since both their wands were drawn. They meant to intimidate me.

I just gave them the typical Malfoy gaze. Cool. Unemotional. With that tight, grim smile that could have been painted on, I was a one-sided mirror where you could practically measure the anger of your opponent, while you yourself were unreadable.

I remembered my father's cold voice telling me that any sentiment on my part would lead me to failure.

I kept my face unintelligible.

After a glance at Weasley, Harry was the one to begin any kind of talk between us.

"Shall we duel?"

I raised my eyebrow at this, my impassive smirk still pasted on. "Not unless you want to back out, Potter."

Those green eyes of his turned to jade daggers as he looked at me. "For a while there, in the train, I thought you we're slightly less than a bastard. I guess I was wrong."

My pale gray eyes, a trait that I had inherited from my despised father, had turned to steel.

All thoughts about canceling this thing were gone.

I nodded and sauntered towards Potter and bowed slowly.

My mind flew to Hermione again. What would she think if she were here? Well, to tell you the truth, I already knew what her reaction would be… She would be highly pissed off, and probably angrier at me than before.

That made me pause.

Never mind. There was no chance in hell that I would surrender. It was laughable to think that I, Draco Malfoy, would give up now, right before a duel against his "enemy".

He stepped away from me, so I did the same, and eased my hands into the accepted combative position.

There was no stopping me now.

"One--two--three!"

I spun around, my arm raised; my wand pointed towards Harry, and… promptly had a fit of sneezing.

Damnation. That idiot had always been faster than me. That's what I get for not cheating and starting on "two."

Through my watery eyes and between my sneezes, I raised my arm and yelled (gasped, actually), "Taciturnitas! "

Ha! Silence! The ass wouldn't be able to curse me if he couldn't talk! It was a somewhat simple spell that could have been deflected with the Shield Charm, which, luckily, he didn't have on. I knew it was a disgracefully easy way to win, but it got the job done, and I had already proven I was not as agile as him.

I wasn't too proud of that.

"Fuck!" Ron said under his breath. "That's cheap!"

It didn't matter to me. I felt like gloating. I wanted to strut around, relishing my victory over the Boy Who Lived.

If only I could stop this blasted sneezing.

Amidst the chaos of those few minutes, with me honking into my handkerchief and Harry gasping and clutching his throat, we all had blocked out easily ignored sound of the approaching footsteps.

"Oh for heaven's sake, you are all such male animals!"

All of us, including Crabbe and Goyle (who had been standing patiently at the sidelines), looked up towards where the noise came from.

Hermione was standing in the corridor, her pretty face crumpled into a scowl, and her wand brandished threateningly.

Frankly, she looked like she wanted to hex all of us, friend or not.

Instead, she simply said, "Finite Incantatum."

Immediately, Harry let out a "Gahh!" and I swiftly stopped my sneezing.

We seemed to cower from her gaze. And all I could bring myself to do was stare sheepishly at the dirty stone floor.

Completely without her knowledge and approval, we "male animals" had been fighting over her. And now she had caught us.

Damn, this was bad.

I swear, I wasn't the only one who felt completely stupid at that moment. Ron had gone red in the ears and Harry was rubbing one sneakered foot against the other. Only my two friends seemed unperturbed, in fact, they looked like they were fighting against a fit of giggles.

Weasley cleared his throat quietly, and bravely let out a timid, "Umm…hey…ahh…Hermione."

Hmm. I don't think I would have ventured to say anything, even if an hour had passed.

Gryffindors certainly have guts.

Hermione ignored him, and shot all of us a fierce glare, which promptly made Ron, Harry and I start to recoil from her. "What. Were. You. Doing. Here." She snarled at him. It wasn't even a question anymore!

This wasn't exactly how I expected this night to end… Fuck it! Hermione was here, and extremely mad. I took what little comfort that I could in the fact that she wasn't angry with just me right now. She was pissed at her best friends as well.

"Well…" Ron's face looked like a strange mixture of fear and embarrassment, and the back of his ears seemed to burn even redder, if that was possible. Damn. It looked like a miracle that he didn't burst into flames then and there.

"Erm. We…" That was Potter. His voice trailed off when she glared at him, and those bright green eyes of his seemed to show quite obviously that he immediately regretted speaking out loud.

Harry had faced Voldemort with a brave face, and yet… He looked so awkward standing over there all tongue-tied. If I weren't in the same position myself, I would have been laughing. Like Crabbe and Goyle, actually, who we're trying to muffle the sound of their cackles.

You can imagine how I looked over there, blinking rapidly and wanting to sink into the floor. It was terrible. My silver eyes kept on flicking to both Harry and Ron, while carefully avoiding Hermione herself.

I hadn't seen her up close like this for so long... It was nearly painful. Though I was in no position to do so, I wanted to go up to her and apologize for everything. God, my life sucked.

Something seemed to hit Harry, while he was standing there mumbling inaudibly, his face turning different shades of color. He suddenly perked up with an idea. "We were just going to the kitchens…to get a midnight snack… When Malfoy decided to curse me!"

That bastard.

As I was going to protest my innocence, Hermione, with an expression of irritated patience (her angriness had melted away, thank goodness), responded, "Harry, this isn't the proper floor for the kitchens. And you know the hallway to the kitchen portrait doesn't look a thing like this!" Glancing at me, she added, "And if Draco had started the fight, how come he had the Sneezing hex on him? You can't exactly curse someone when you're silenced! And Ron doesn't have his wand drawn out so it couldn't have been him who retaliated."

"Erm…"

"And I was in the room when you two were talking about the duel, so no more stupid excuses, comprende?" She said bluntly.

Silence.

Before any of us could think up a sufficiently appropriate response, we heard footsteps approaching from the end of the hallway where Hermione came from. Someone was coming!

"We have to get out of here!" I whispered to them, finally finding my voice.

With a forbidding, suspicious look, Harry nodded, and they all followed me down the opposite end of the hallway.

Though it was darker here, and certainly freakier, I somehow spotted a door to my right.

It was locked, but I wasn't that perturbed.

Pointing my wand at the doorknob, I quietly murmured, "Alohomora!" and it slid open.

The room we all quietly stepped into was as sinister, as the hallway, but at least faint rays of blue moonlight shone through the tall, gothic windows, though the effect was still quite eerie.

"Should we risk any light?" Ron asked, turning to Hermione and Harry for their judgment, and to my annoyance, carefully ignored my friends and me, apparently finding our opinions not worthy of him.

Sighing irritably, I jabbed my wand at one of the unlit torches positioned around the dark room and immediately ignited it. "Weasley, even if Filch or Mrs. Norris did suspect we were in here, he'd have to know the right spell. And isn't he a Squib? Besides, whoever was going that hall probably wasn't looking for us."

"How can you be so certain of that, Malfoy?!" Ron hissed at me.

"Why? Do you know any one who just might want to follow you at 11:30 in the evening?! Do you by any chance have a stalker, Ron?!"

"Shut up, Malfoy! You may want a bloody detention, but I sure as hell don't!"

 "Quiet!" Hermione barked out at us, and jerked her head towards the door.

Ron and I promptly shut up, and listened intently for any sound from outside. My gray eyes widened as I heard "Alohomora" being said once more by a voice beyond the door.

A small click from the knob told us that we were simply screwed.

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Author's note: Hey, A little cliffhanger, eh? Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Thank you everyone. Gah. Holidays are over. *cries* Please don't forget to REVIEW! I'm having a panic attack! School starts on the 6th!