A/N: This is the much expected sequel to my fic "Embracing Darkness" so
those of you who haven't read it will have a hard time catching up; also, I
don't have the HP books with me, so sorry for any misspellings or incorrect
details, OK? If you spot a mistake, kindly tell me and I'll correct.
Thanks to all of those who asked for this!!! To all who read-and-reviewed "Embracing Darkness" and to those who are misguided enough to think that werewolves are immortal (they can be killed with a silver bullet, darlings, didn't you do that essay for Professor Snape?)
Disclaimer: why do I bother with this again? I own nothing, everything belongs to Rowling and a lot of lucky, happy people, so don't sue.Lyrics by *hangs her head in shame* Boyzone and Backstreet Boys
Summary: Voldemort is dead, Harry and Draco are together and Hogwarts has been re-opened. It seems that everything should be going well after Harry's decision, but why is it everything falling apart? Hermione plays a main role in this one! It is darker than "ED" so be warned...
Rating: PG-13, for swearing, violence and sexual implications.
Pairing: Harry/Draco, although it may include Draco/?. Yes, it's SLASH, don't flame!
Request: I live on reviews, so do write one as you leave; it'll only take you a minute and you'll make a happy authoress!!!
It takes two to tango, by Dark Fairy
"Didn't they say that I would make a mistake?/ Didn't they say you were going to be trouble?/ People told me you were too much to take/ I couldn't see it; I didn't want to know/ I held you up and you let me down,/ you messed me up and you turned my life around/ left me feeling I had nowhere to go,/ I was alone, how was I to know that/ you will not be there/ when I'm needing somebody;/ you will not be there,/ the only one who could help me./ I had a picture of you in my mind,/ I never knew it could be so wrong..." "Picture of you", Boyzone.
Harry sat in his usual place in the Potions classroom and tried to pay attention to whatever Snape was demonstrating in his desk, but he was interrupted by a quiet snicker from the desk at his left. The Potions lesson was a boring as always, and students tried their best to interrupt it, as in this case, when someone had slipped snakegrass into his partners cauldron; it wouldn't explode, but the colourful foam and the owner's frantic attempts to disguise it were quite funny. Harry looked away in disgust.
The war was over; the victory of the Dark Side had been unquestionable over a much demoralised Light Side. The Hogwarts School for the Development and Study of the Dark Arts had been re-inaugurated by the Dark Lord (formerly known as Lucius Malfoy) a few weeks ago, the first week of December, and now, Christmas come and gone, the lessons were in full swing to allow students to see the whole syllabus before the summer holidays. The walls of the old castle rang again with the laughter and hubbub of students, including a avalanche of transfers from Drumstrangs, and everything was as back to normal as possible. But in Harry's heart, things weren't going too well...
He turned to look at Draco Malfoy, his boyfriend, the reason for everything he had done, and found him partnered with the son of the Rumanian Minister of Magic, an impish-looking boy who everybody called Joe, due to the difficulty of pronouncing his real name. Both boys were chatting quietly over their simmering cauldron, laughing softly from time to time, and Harry felt a stab of jealousy as Joe punched Draco playfully in the arm. The relationship between the blonde prince of darkness and the Boy Who Lived was rapidly deteriorating, partly due to external demands by the Malfoy- hungry new public, but also due to the emotional pressures of their complex liaison. Harry sighed softly, trying to ignore the void in his chest.
"Mr Potter, would you care to tell me what is the next ingredient you must add to your potion in order to make it less of a pathetic attempt at a Diminishing Draught?" Snape was towering over him again, knowing he had caught his least favourite student at fault again.
"I don't know, sir" replied Harry tiredly; Snape hated him now more than ever, but his sphere of influence had been greatly reduced with the new son- in-law of the Dark Lord, even more than it had been with the Boy Who Lived.
"I think you better start paying attention, Mr Potter, before I must ask you to bring me an essay on the historical developments of this potion you have been trying to offend by adding mandrake to it" Quiet sniggers from behind him told Harry that Joe found Snape's words funny, and it enraged him to no end.
Hiding his hands on his pockets to hide the nails digging into his palms, Harry came across a Weasley's Wet-Start Woosh, one of Fred and George's last inventions before everything... Seeing that everyone was watching Draco collect a precious drop of liquid ebony from the teacher's table, Harry turned round and sent the small package into Joe's cauldron with a Banishing Charm, quickly turning his attention back to where it should be. One, two, three seconds went by, and Harry was starting to doubt the efficiency of the twins, when a shrill cry was followed by the sound of liquid cascading down. Everybody turned back to see Joe covered in green potion, mouthing words no-one could hear, with an anguished expression that wasn't enough to quell Harry's jealous vindictiveness. Then, the Rumanian boy started shrinking, hiccupping, growing, hiccupping, shrinking again, hiccupping, swelling, hiccupping... Snape was livid, but he soon disappeared in the fire with the whimpering boy, leaving Harry to hide the wild shine of his green eyes.
"Class dismissed" said Snape's voice from the fireplace after a minute of tense waiting "And when I find out who did this..." Ignoring the menace in the teacher's voice, Harry started packing his things, feeling a particular pair of grey eyes trained on him. Raising his head to meet Draco's gaze, the ex-Gryffindor (after much cajoling and threatening, the Sorting Hat had agreed to let Harry change houses) attempted a smile, only to be met by a ferocious smirk.
"Into our quarters, now" growled Draco, grabbing his bag and stalking out of the classroom, followed by an equally sombre Harry.
Once both boys were inside their luxurious private rooms (they were being pampered to no end) and the door had been carefully locked and sound- proofed, Draco turned towards his boyfriend, wearing the expressionless façade he knew the other boy couldn't stand.
"Joe is not so clumsy with his potions usually" commented the blonde coolly.
"Apparently today he wasn't feeling too bright" contradicted Harry, defiantly meeting grey eyes; the three months of his stormy relationship with Draco had created a hard shell around his heart like years of war hadn't been able to do. Being rebuked at his every attempt of tenderness, being mocked at his every weakness, his few rebellious attempts dismissed like a child's tantrum, all that was pooling inside Harry, waiting for the drop that would break the dam of insecurity.
"Or maybe, just maybe, someone was interested in making him look like a fool" Grey eyes piercing into green eyes, neither of them giving anything away, in a staring contest which would never bring out a winner.
"Are you suggesting anything?" inquired Harry, hiding his nervousness well; he was getting better at this Slytherin contests for dominance. A month before he would have blushed, shuffled and confessed, trying to make up for his fault with puppy-eyes and a pout; now, he played along with Draco.
"And what if I were?" shrugged Malfoy, standing in front of his mirror and checking his hair. He hated when Harry was trying to play bad; he hated when Harry acted like a tender child; he hated when those green eyes turned to him, whether loving, mocking or in pain; he hated how that emerald gaze left him feeling so vulnerable, how a touch of the Boy Who Lived surrendered his carefully-built defences. "After all, my father put Joe into my care and I should punish whoever did that childish joke" Harry tensed slightly, but he still didn't give in.
"Good luck in catching the criminal, Draco" he replied, turning back to draw a book out of his bag; no sooner had he turned his back to Draco that he was standing behind him, his face millimetres away from Harry's neck, breathing moist air over the delicate skin.
"So, I have you good-wishes for the hunt?" asked Malfoy, his lips barely touching Harry, producing shivers the dark-haired boy couldn't repress "I am so grateful, how could I ever thought of going out without them? After all, you are supposed to be my one light, my only reason for wanting to see the sun every day..." Cold voice, mocking and sarcastic, plunging like an ice needle past the barriers of Harry's heart and straight into the tender flesh. The dark-haired boy cringed inwardly and fell silent. He could feel cold fury radiating from the other boy and it hurt him, however he tried to mask it.
"You're welcome, Draco, anytime you need them, you just have to ask" The Sorting Hat had not changed Harry into Slytherin only because he had been asked to do so; the Boy Who Lived also knew how to survive, killing if necessary.
"Fuck you, Harry Potter" growled Draco, grabbing the neck of the other's robes to pull him into a bruising kiss, which revealed as much hate as love and desire. Then, the fair-haired boy left the room, not even throwing a good-bye towards Harry, who still sat in his green armchair, dazed.
"Even in my heart, I see/ you're not being true to me,/ deep within my soul I feel/ nothing is like it used to be./ Sometimes I wish I could/ turn back time,/ impossible as it may seem/ but I wish I could so bad..." "Quit playing games with my heart" Backstreet boys.
Once he was sure he was alone and Draco wouldn't go back, Harry dropped the hard façade and indulged in a single tear running down his cheek. When had it all become like that? When had the passionate kisses and maliciously tender looks transformed into the cold, calculating stares and angry caresses he had now? Had he given up his life for that increasingly wounding relationship? Once a proud dragon, apparently hiding love under his cold grey eyes, Draco now appeared as the devious snake who once it had got its way didn't hesitate in biting the hand who had helped him. Even Joe got more attention than he did, and Harry couldn't help feeling abandoned, jealous and hurt.
What could he do? His position, his mere existence was owed to the fact of his relationship with Draco, for no-one else in the Dark Side held anything but a grudging respect mixed with fear for him; without the blond boy, Harry would become a hunting prize, a pariah, threatened from all flanks. Draco knew it, the beautiful boy wasn't stupid, and he used both that and Harry's desperate love towards him to keep the ex-Gryffindor as his willing slave. But the ungainly peace managed by keeping the Boy Who Live on his knees wouldn't last long; the dark-haired boy was already resenting his abandonment, and the lion would soon raise its head.
'And yet love knows it is a greater grief, to bear love's wrong than hate's known injury'
Meanwhile, Draco paced quickly the Hogwarts corridors, directing his steps towards the oldest, most abandoned part of the castle, lately transformed into the living quarters of the former Dark Lady. Virginia Riddle had lost her mind the second she had fell to her knees in front of her dead husband's body, but there was hope that the child she bore could continue the Slytherin heritage, and she was being taken care of in that account. As soon as the nurse saw the Malfoy heir in the corridor she jumped to her feet and showed the young man into a room with a large window that showed what happened in the padded cell where Ginny was.
The red-haired girl was sitting on a corner, her knees pulled up to her forehead, her head hidden by the flaming curtain. A soft, guttural sound came out of her lips, sounding like some strange prayer to a dead god, which was exactly what it was.
"Tom, Tom, why did you have to leave? Why did you have to leave before you could see the boy who is growing inside me? You would have so proud to see him and he would be so proud to have such a father...Why did you have to leave? Why did you listen to me? WhY did you listen to me?!" She screamed suddenly, a ragged sob following her question; Draco jumped at the loud sound, then sharpened his ears to pick up the soft murmur "You said I was a bad influence. You were right. If you hadn't listened to me you'd still be here and we'd both be happy and you'd finally be ruling this poor land you wanted so badly... And now Lucius has taken everything you worked for, everything you wanted. They keep me here, locked and lonely, with only your presence to keep me company. I tried to kill him, I really did, but they stunned me before I could get to him and pull out those green eyes with my nails, and tear that fragile skin into bleeding shards and smash those bones into the wall, and dig out the palpitating heart and lay it at your feet...It wouldn't bring you back, I know, but it was the least I could do...I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it" Draco felt nauseated: the precise description of what Ginny wanted to do to the boy who slept by his side every night, the hate seeping in that voice, the memories of a dishevelled red-haired girl throwing herself towards a paralysed Harry, only stopped by a Stunning Spell, everything just adding to his discomfort "I couldn't do it" she repeated softly; then, Ginny started giggling madly, the sound raising shivers in Draco's spine "But you won't be without revenge, or without a bleeding heart laying at your feet... you remember how I told you I disliked young Malfoy? How I told you I didn't trust him, when the news of him and Harry arrived for the first time? We were both right, my love: Malfoy himself is giving you Harry's heart, smashed into a bloody pulp, just like he promised... but not out of loyalty for he who raised him from mediocrity, but out of pure, undiluted ignorance of his own heart. When he sees what he's doing it'll be too late, and you will have been revenged... Tom, Tom, why did you have to leave me?!"
Draco left the room abruptly. He was pale and dizzy, and he could hear Ginny's broken voice playing over and over again inside his head, revealing truths he longed to keep hidden, raising remorse that should have never come into existence in the first place. He wasn't being so cruel to Harry, he wasn't; he was just trying to protect himself from a feeling that exposed him more than he should ever allow. No, he said, breathing deeply and calming his beating heart, it's all a mad-woman's rambling, nothing to worry about. The Malfoy heir walked back to the school part of the castle, but his steps weren't quite as confident as they had been before
------------------- A/N: Oh, I do hope you like how this is going. It was hard to pick up the argument again, and I've been busy with other fics, but I gave this my best shot. Hermione will be coming back in the next chapter (along with other characters you thought dead and buried), and I need a small help... Shall Harry and Draco remain together as the unhealthy couple they are now? Shouldn't they? Have you got a suggestion, a comment, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism? Review and you shall be entertained...
Thanks to all of those who asked for this!!! To all who read-and-reviewed "Embracing Darkness" and to those who are misguided enough to think that werewolves are immortal (they can be killed with a silver bullet, darlings, didn't you do that essay for Professor Snape?)
Disclaimer: why do I bother with this again? I own nothing, everything belongs to Rowling and a lot of lucky, happy people, so don't sue.Lyrics by *hangs her head in shame* Boyzone and Backstreet Boys
Summary: Voldemort is dead, Harry and Draco are together and Hogwarts has been re-opened. It seems that everything should be going well after Harry's decision, but why is it everything falling apart? Hermione plays a main role in this one! It is darker than "ED" so be warned...
Rating: PG-13, for swearing, violence and sexual implications.
Pairing: Harry/Draco, although it may include Draco/?. Yes, it's SLASH, don't flame!
Request: I live on reviews, so do write one as you leave; it'll only take you a minute and you'll make a happy authoress!!!
It takes two to tango, by Dark Fairy
"Didn't they say that I would make a mistake?/ Didn't they say you were going to be trouble?/ People told me you were too much to take/ I couldn't see it; I didn't want to know/ I held you up and you let me down,/ you messed me up and you turned my life around/ left me feeling I had nowhere to go,/ I was alone, how was I to know that/ you will not be there/ when I'm needing somebody;/ you will not be there,/ the only one who could help me./ I had a picture of you in my mind,/ I never knew it could be so wrong..." "Picture of you", Boyzone.
Harry sat in his usual place in the Potions classroom and tried to pay attention to whatever Snape was demonstrating in his desk, but he was interrupted by a quiet snicker from the desk at his left. The Potions lesson was a boring as always, and students tried their best to interrupt it, as in this case, when someone had slipped snakegrass into his partners cauldron; it wouldn't explode, but the colourful foam and the owner's frantic attempts to disguise it were quite funny. Harry looked away in disgust.
The war was over; the victory of the Dark Side had been unquestionable over a much demoralised Light Side. The Hogwarts School for the Development and Study of the Dark Arts had been re-inaugurated by the Dark Lord (formerly known as Lucius Malfoy) a few weeks ago, the first week of December, and now, Christmas come and gone, the lessons were in full swing to allow students to see the whole syllabus before the summer holidays. The walls of the old castle rang again with the laughter and hubbub of students, including a avalanche of transfers from Drumstrangs, and everything was as back to normal as possible. But in Harry's heart, things weren't going too well...
He turned to look at Draco Malfoy, his boyfriend, the reason for everything he had done, and found him partnered with the son of the Rumanian Minister of Magic, an impish-looking boy who everybody called Joe, due to the difficulty of pronouncing his real name. Both boys were chatting quietly over their simmering cauldron, laughing softly from time to time, and Harry felt a stab of jealousy as Joe punched Draco playfully in the arm. The relationship between the blonde prince of darkness and the Boy Who Lived was rapidly deteriorating, partly due to external demands by the Malfoy- hungry new public, but also due to the emotional pressures of their complex liaison. Harry sighed softly, trying to ignore the void in his chest.
"Mr Potter, would you care to tell me what is the next ingredient you must add to your potion in order to make it less of a pathetic attempt at a Diminishing Draught?" Snape was towering over him again, knowing he had caught his least favourite student at fault again.
"I don't know, sir" replied Harry tiredly; Snape hated him now more than ever, but his sphere of influence had been greatly reduced with the new son- in-law of the Dark Lord, even more than it had been with the Boy Who Lived.
"I think you better start paying attention, Mr Potter, before I must ask you to bring me an essay on the historical developments of this potion you have been trying to offend by adding mandrake to it" Quiet sniggers from behind him told Harry that Joe found Snape's words funny, and it enraged him to no end.
Hiding his hands on his pockets to hide the nails digging into his palms, Harry came across a Weasley's Wet-Start Woosh, one of Fred and George's last inventions before everything... Seeing that everyone was watching Draco collect a precious drop of liquid ebony from the teacher's table, Harry turned round and sent the small package into Joe's cauldron with a Banishing Charm, quickly turning his attention back to where it should be. One, two, three seconds went by, and Harry was starting to doubt the efficiency of the twins, when a shrill cry was followed by the sound of liquid cascading down. Everybody turned back to see Joe covered in green potion, mouthing words no-one could hear, with an anguished expression that wasn't enough to quell Harry's jealous vindictiveness. Then, the Rumanian boy started shrinking, hiccupping, growing, hiccupping, shrinking again, hiccupping, swelling, hiccupping... Snape was livid, but he soon disappeared in the fire with the whimpering boy, leaving Harry to hide the wild shine of his green eyes.
"Class dismissed" said Snape's voice from the fireplace after a minute of tense waiting "And when I find out who did this..." Ignoring the menace in the teacher's voice, Harry started packing his things, feeling a particular pair of grey eyes trained on him. Raising his head to meet Draco's gaze, the ex-Gryffindor (after much cajoling and threatening, the Sorting Hat had agreed to let Harry change houses) attempted a smile, only to be met by a ferocious smirk.
"Into our quarters, now" growled Draco, grabbing his bag and stalking out of the classroom, followed by an equally sombre Harry.
Once both boys were inside their luxurious private rooms (they were being pampered to no end) and the door had been carefully locked and sound- proofed, Draco turned towards his boyfriend, wearing the expressionless façade he knew the other boy couldn't stand.
"Joe is not so clumsy with his potions usually" commented the blonde coolly.
"Apparently today he wasn't feeling too bright" contradicted Harry, defiantly meeting grey eyes; the three months of his stormy relationship with Draco had created a hard shell around his heart like years of war hadn't been able to do. Being rebuked at his every attempt of tenderness, being mocked at his every weakness, his few rebellious attempts dismissed like a child's tantrum, all that was pooling inside Harry, waiting for the drop that would break the dam of insecurity.
"Or maybe, just maybe, someone was interested in making him look like a fool" Grey eyes piercing into green eyes, neither of them giving anything away, in a staring contest which would never bring out a winner.
"Are you suggesting anything?" inquired Harry, hiding his nervousness well; he was getting better at this Slytherin contests for dominance. A month before he would have blushed, shuffled and confessed, trying to make up for his fault with puppy-eyes and a pout; now, he played along with Draco.
"And what if I were?" shrugged Malfoy, standing in front of his mirror and checking his hair. He hated when Harry was trying to play bad; he hated when Harry acted like a tender child; he hated when those green eyes turned to him, whether loving, mocking or in pain; he hated how that emerald gaze left him feeling so vulnerable, how a touch of the Boy Who Lived surrendered his carefully-built defences. "After all, my father put Joe into my care and I should punish whoever did that childish joke" Harry tensed slightly, but he still didn't give in.
"Good luck in catching the criminal, Draco" he replied, turning back to draw a book out of his bag; no sooner had he turned his back to Draco that he was standing behind him, his face millimetres away from Harry's neck, breathing moist air over the delicate skin.
"So, I have you good-wishes for the hunt?" asked Malfoy, his lips barely touching Harry, producing shivers the dark-haired boy couldn't repress "I am so grateful, how could I ever thought of going out without them? After all, you are supposed to be my one light, my only reason for wanting to see the sun every day..." Cold voice, mocking and sarcastic, plunging like an ice needle past the barriers of Harry's heart and straight into the tender flesh. The dark-haired boy cringed inwardly and fell silent. He could feel cold fury radiating from the other boy and it hurt him, however he tried to mask it.
"You're welcome, Draco, anytime you need them, you just have to ask" The Sorting Hat had not changed Harry into Slytherin only because he had been asked to do so; the Boy Who Lived also knew how to survive, killing if necessary.
"Fuck you, Harry Potter" growled Draco, grabbing the neck of the other's robes to pull him into a bruising kiss, which revealed as much hate as love and desire. Then, the fair-haired boy left the room, not even throwing a good-bye towards Harry, who still sat in his green armchair, dazed.
"Even in my heart, I see/ you're not being true to me,/ deep within my soul I feel/ nothing is like it used to be./ Sometimes I wish I could/ turn back time,/ impossible as it may seem/ but I wish I could so bad..." "Quit playing games with my heart" Backstreet boys.
Once he was sure he was alone and Draco wouldn't go back, Harry dropped the hard façade and indulged in a single tear running down his cheek. When had it all become like that? When had the passionate kisses and maliciously tender looks transformed into the cold, calculating stares and angry caresses he had now? Had he given up his life for that increasingly wounding relationship? Once a proud dragon, apparently hiding love under his cold grey eyes, Draco now appeared as the devious snake who once it had got its way didn't hesitate in biting the hand who had helped him. Even Joe got more attention than he did, and Harry couldn't help feeling abandoned, jealous and hurt.
What could he do? His position, his mere existence was owed to the fact of his relationship with Draco, for no-one else in the Dark Side held anything but a grudging respect mixed with fear for him; without the blond boy, Harry would become a hunting prize, a pariah, threatened from all flanks. Draco knew it, the beautiful boy wasn't stupid, and he used both that and Harry's desperate love towards him to keep the ex-Gryffindor as his willing slave. But the ungainly peace managed by keeping the Boy Who Live on his knees wouldn't last long; the dark-haired boy was already resenting his abandonment, and the lion would soon raise its head.
'And yet love knows it is a greater grief, to bear love's wrong than hate's known injury'
Meanwhile, Draco paced quickly the Hogwarts corridors, directing his steps towards the oldest, most abandoned part of the castle, lately transformed into the living quarters of the former Dark Lady. Virginia Riddle had lost her mind the second she had fell to her knees in front of her dead husband's body, but there was hope that the child she bore could continue the Slytherin heritage, and she was being taken care of in that account. As soon as the nurse saw the Malfoy heir in the corridor she jumped to her feet and showed the young man into a room with a large window that showed what happened in the padded cell where Ginny was.
The red-haired girl was sitting on a corner, her knees pulled up to her forehead, her head hidden by the flaming curtain. A soft, guttural sound came out of her lips, sounding like some strange prayer to a dead god, which was exactly what it was.
"Tom, Tom, why did you have to leave? Why did you have to leave before you could see the boy who is growing inside me? You would have so proud to see him and he would be so proud to have such a father...Why did you have to leave? Why did you listen to me? WhY did you listen to me?!" She screamed suddenly, a ragged sob following her question; Draco jumped at the loud sound, then sharpened his ears to pick up the soft murmur "You said I was a bad influence. You were right. If you hadn't listened to me you'd still be here and we'd both be happy and you'd finally be ruling this poor land you wanted so badly... And now Lucius has taken everything you worked for, everything you wanted. They keep me here, locked and lonely, with only your presence to keep me company. I tried to kill him, I really did, but they stunned me before I could get to him and pull out those green eyes with my nails, and tear that fragile skin into bleeding shards and smash those bones into the wall, and dig out the palpitating heart and lay it at your feet...It wouldn't bring you back, I know, but it was the least I could do...I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it" Draco felt nauseated: the precise description of what Ginny wanted to do to the boy who slept by his side every night, the hate seeping in that voice, the memories of a dishevelled red-haired girl throwing herself towards a paralysed Harry, only stopped by a Stunning Spell, everything just adding to his discomfort "I couldn't do it" she repeated softly; then, Ginny started giggling madly, the sound raising shivers in Draco's spine "But you won't be without revenge, or without a bleeding heart laying at your feet... you remember how I told you I disliked young Malfoy? How I told you I didn't trust him, when the news of him and Harry arrived for the first time? We were both right, my love: Malfoy himself is giving you Harry's heart, smashed into a bloody pulp, just like he promised... but not out of loyalty for he who raised him from mediocrity, but out of pure, undiluted ignorance of his own heart. When he sees what he's doing it'll be too late, and you will have been revenged... Tom, Tom, why did you have to leave me?!"
Draco left the room abruptly. He was pale and dizzy, and he could hear Ginny's broken voice playing over and over again inside his head, revealing truths he longed to keep hidden, raising remorse that should have never come into existence in the first place. He wasn't being so cruel to Harry, he wasn't; he was just trying to protect himself from a feeling that exposed him more than he should ever allow. No, he said, breathing deeply and calming his beating heart, it's all a mad-woman's rambling, nothing to worry about. The Malfoy heir walked back to the school part of the castle, but his steps weren't quite as confident as they had been before
------------------- A/N: Oh, I do hope you like how this is going. It was hard to pick up the argument again, and I've been busy with other fics, but I gave this my best shot. Hermione will be coming back in the next chapter (along with other characters you thought dead and buried), and I need a small help... Shall Harry and Draco remain together as the unhealthy couple they are now? Shouldn't they? Have you got a suggestion, a comment, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism? Review and you shall be entertained...