17. Draco can't stand up well to Feminine Hysterics
Draco lay on his bed, Blaise's head resting on his arm. She was snuggled up against him,
one leg thrown haphazardly over his torso. He felt incredibly content – Blaise had been
nicer and more agreeable this weekend than ever, except for the stupid Monopoly
incident – but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was just…wrong.
Was it the fact that she had slept with his father? No…not entirely. The Malfoy family
was a strange one, and Draco had to admit that such behavior was not out of character for
Lucius at all. Certainly he was angry as all hell, but he didn't blame Blaise (much).
Lucius was just too good at manipulating people, and Blaise hadn't been prepared.
Draco couldn't come to a satisfying conclusion as to what was bothering him. He idly
played with a strand of Blaise's hair, thinking. He decided that a cup of hot chocolate was
the cure for what ailed him, and that he might as well try this whole "making food for
yourself" thing.
He shifted positions, gently arranging Blaise on the pillow and placing a blanket over her.
He shrugged on a dark green wool bathrobe and was about to leave the room when a
small white object poking out of Blaise's dressing gown, draped over a chair, caught his
eye. Puzzled, he grabbed it – a small piece of parchment, written on in purple ink. He
scanned it quickly.
B. –
Please don't forget to return my earrings! I hope that you haven't lost them somewhere.
Whatever you do, don't come back to Hogwarts without them OR ELSE!!
Love, H. H.
Draco blinked. Blaise had disappeared for a few minutes earlier, claiming she had to
"freshen up" before bed. Clearly she had also received this letter. But who was H.H.?
And why did they care so much about some stupid earrings?
"Ok, Hermione. Now that we're sure Ron will come back with the earring and that's all
taken care of, let's go over this thing one more time." Harry was trying to act firm but
was mostly just confused. "You said that the potion COULD modify Ron's feelings and
emotions. So he could also just be fine?" Ginny looked like she had her fingers crossed
behind her back.
Hermione didn't look quite so encouraged. "Everything that I've read says that the
potion will have some effect but that the degree of the effect varies from person to
person." Hermione looked down at her feet and said in a small voice, "He could also
come back to us a mess."
Harry was starting to wear his righteous indignation face. "Ok, now HOW exactly does
it modify a person's feelings? You've been extremely vague on this point."
"This also varies from person to person. Ron could become increasingly angry, or
indifferent, or any number of things. The effect is not well studied and it could manifest
anywhere along the emotional spectrum. I think the only known consistencies are with
the people involved." Hermione's voice was starting to develop a high edge to it that
was close to fraying Harry's patience.
"By people involved, do you mean the character of the people who take the potion or the
character of the people they are turning into? Do they start to act more like who they
look like? 'Cause if so I heard a rumor once that Blaise was a bit of a tramp." Hermione
looked shocked at what Harry was implying and even Harry paused for a minute,
confused. Only Ginny retained her look of wide-eyed helplessness, continuing to say
nothing.
"No." Hermione's voice was shaky but firm. "I don't think it has anything to do with the
characters of those they turn into. I think the potion just puts quirks into the character of
the potion taker himself." She bit her lip thinking. "I do remember one thing that
seemed to be consistent, actually." Harry just raised an eyebrow and Hermione continued
hurriedly. "Those who took the potion, aside from the other effects seen, all exhibited
increased impulsiveness."
"Well that's just great, isn't it." Hermione, and Ginny too, looked very fragile in the face
of Harry's anger. "So, what happens if Ron just impulsively hexes Lucius or something
equally stupid and blows his cover? WHAT THEN!?!" At this point Harry realized that
he was becoming hysterical and should try to calm down. "Ok, ok. I suppose we can't
worry about it now. We should just all get some sleep and when Ron gets back tomorrow
we can see how he is then." Harry was starting to feel extremely tired. Hermione
nodded stiffly to his advice. Ginny started crying.
Ron awoke the next morning in an entirely new bed. "Three beds in two days. Must be
some kind of record," Ron thought lazily to himself. He rolled over to face Draco
sleeping next to him and stifled a giggle. No matter what, giggling would always be
stupid. Draco's mouth was smeared all around with chocolate, like a baby who hasn't yet
mastered the fine art of the spoon. It was then that Ron noticed that he himself was
feeling a bit sticky and wasn't sure whether to laugh or scowl about the whole strange-
bed-and-too-much-chocolate problem he seemed to be going through.
"Draco, why am I all sticky?" Ron asked after kissing away some of the chocolate
marring Draco's mouth and rousing him to some semblance of wakefulness. For a
couple of moments Draco just looked sleepily befuddled.
"Oh, yeah. I spilled my hot chocolate." Draco closed his eyes and yawned hugely.
"Sorry about that." He pulled himself up into a half-sitting position and stared groggily
at the far wall. "Oh and I meant to ask you. Who's H.H. and what could be so important
about a pair of earrings that she'd send an owl in the middle of the night?"
"Oh, shit!" Ron was instantly awake and sitting bolt upright in bed. He had totally
forgotten about the letter from Harry and Hermione and his plan to sneak down before
Draco woke up to see if the earring had survived the explosion. STUPID. STUPID.
STUPID. He felt like banging his hand against his forehead but knew that would be a
mistake. And now he needed to come up with something to tell Draco.
"I…I…um…well..H.H. is this..uh..distant cousin of mine. Hepsaba Hink." Ron was
thinking frantically while Draco was looking skeptical. "I begged her to let me borrow
her earrings for this trip, see, because, um..I don't think you'll like this." Draco was now
looking extremely attentive and Ron was hoping desperately that his lie would work.
"They're charmed to make the wearer look..um..really attractive if you know what I
mean." Ron put on his best worried expression, which was pretty good considering that
he was, in fact, quite worried.
Draco looked like he was about to burst out laughing so Ron decided to cover up
whatever he was about to say with his best show of feminine hysterics, which was not so
good. "But I've lost them!" he wailed, pulling on his hair to look extra convincing. "I
lost them at the ball, you've got to help me find them. She'll kill me if I don't get them
back to her!" At this point Ron's thoughts froze on this rather stupid mistake. Draco
help him find them. Was he nuts? There was only one earring to begin with and it might
not even be there and if it was what was he going to do if it was still stuck to the
underside of the council chamber? How was he going to explain that one, huh?! Maybe
he could look under there quickly while Draco was looking somewhere else. Ron seized
on this thought.
Fortunately for Ron's cover (at the present moment anyway) Draco didn't seem to be
able to stand up well to female hysterics, however poorly acted. "Don't worry, we'll find
them, don't worry," he said putting his hands on Ron's shoulders to try to stop the
wailing. Ron stopped obligingly and just stared mutely at Draco, unsure of what to do
next.
Draco lay on his bed, Blaise's head resting on his arm. She was snuggled up against him,
one leg thrown haphazardly over his torso. He felt incredibly content – Blaise had been
nicer and more agreeable this weekend than ever, except for the stupid Monopoly
incident – but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was just…wrong.
Was it the fact that she had slept with his father? No…not entirely. The Malfoy family
was a strange one, and Draco had to admit that such behavior was not out of character for
Lucius at all. Certainly he was angry as all hell, but he didn't blame Blaise (much).
Lucius was just too good at manipulating people, and Blaise hadn't been prepared.
Draco couldn't come to a satisfying conclusion as to what was bothering him. He idly
played with a strand of Blaise's hair, thinking. He decided that a cup of hot chocolate was
the cure for what ailed him, and that he might as well try this whole "making food for
yourself" thing.
He shifted positions, gently arranging Blaise on the pillow and placing a blanket over her.
He shrugged on a dark green wool bathrobe and was about to leave the room when a
small white object poking out of Blaise's dressing gown, draped over a chair, caught his
eye. Puzzled, he grabbed it – a small piece of parchment, written on in purple ink. He
scanned it quickly.
B. –
Please don't forget to return my earrings! I hope that you haven't lost them somewhere.
Whatever you do, don't come back to Hogwarts without them OR ELSE!!
Love, H. H.
Draco blinked. Blaise had disappeared for a few minutes earlier, claiming she had to
"freshen up" before bed. Clearly she had also received this letter. But who was H.H.?
And why did they care so much about some stupid earrings?
"Ok, Hermione. Now that we're sure Ron will come back with the earring and that's all
taken care of, let's go over this thing one more time." Harry was trying to act firm but
was mostly just confused. "You said that the potion COULD modify Ron's feelings and
emotions. So he could also just be fine?" Ginny looked like she had her fingers crossed
behind her back.
Hermione didn't look quite so encouraged. "Everything that I've read says that the
potion will have some effect but that the degree of the effect varies from person to
person." Hermione looked down at her feet and said in a small voice, "He could also
come back to us a mess."
Harry was starting to wear his righteous indignation face. "Ok, now HOW exactly does
it modify a person's feelings? You've been extremely vague on this point."
"This also varies from person to person. Ron could become increasingly angry, or
indifferent, or any number of things. The effect is not well studied and it could manifest
anywhere along the emotional spectrum. I think the only known consistencies are with
the people involved." Hermione's voice was starting to develop a high edge to it that
was close to fraying Harry's patience.
"By people involved, do you mean the character of the people who take the potion or the
character of the people they are turning into? Do they start to act more like who they
look like? 'Cause if so I heard a rumor once that Blaise was a bit of a tramp." Hermione
looked shocked at what Harry was implying and even Harry paused for a minute,
confused. Only Ginny retained her look of wide-eyed helplessness, continuing to say
nothing.
"No." Hermione's voice was shaky but firm. "I don't think it has anything to do with the
characters of those they turn into. I think the potion just puts quirks into the character of
the potion taker himself." She bit her lip thinking. "I do remember one thing that
seemed to be consistent, actually." Harry just raised an eyebrow and Hermione continued
hurriedly. "Those who took the potion, aside from the other effects seen, all exhibited
increased impulsiveness."
"Well that's just great, isn't it." Hermione, and Ginny too, looked very fragile in the face
of Harry's anger. "So, what happens if Ron just impulsively hexes Lucius or something
equally stupid and blows his cover? WHAT THEN!?!" At this point Harry realized that
he was becoming hysterical and should try to calm down. "Ok, ok. I suppose we can't
worry about it now. We should just all get some sleep and when Ron gets back tomorrow
we can see how he is then." Harry was starting to feel extremely tired. Hermione
nodded stiffly to his advice. Ginny started crying.
Ron awoke the next morning in an entirely new bed. "Three beds in two days. Must be
some kind of record," Ron thought lazily to himself. He rolled over to face Draco
sleeping next to him and stifled a giggle. No matter what, giggling would always be
stupid. Draco's mouth was smeared all around with chocolate, like a baby who hasn't yet
mastered the fine art of the spoon. It was then that Ron noticed that he himself was
feeling a bit sticky and wasn't sure whether to laugh or scowl about the whole strange-
bed-and-too-much-chocolate problem he seemed to be going through.
"Draco, why am I all sticky?" Ron asked after kissing away some of the chocolate
marring Draco's mouth and rousing him to some semblance of wakefulness. For a
couple of moments Draco just looked sleepily befuddled.
"Oh, yeah. I spilled my hot chocolate." Draco closed his eyes and yawned hugely.
"Sorry about that." He pulled himself up into a half-sitting position and stared groggily
at the far wall. "Oh and I meant to ask you. Who's H.H. and what could be so important
about a pair of earrings that she'd send an owl in the middle of the night?"
"Oh, shit!" Ron was instantly awake and sitting bolt upright in bed. He had totally
forgotten about the letter from Harry and Hermione and his plan to sneak down before
Draco woke up to see if the earring had survived the explosion. STUPID. STUPID.
STUPID. He felt like banging his hand against his forehead but knew that would be a
mistake. And now he needed to come up with something to tell Draco.
"I…I…um…well..H.H. is this..uh..distant cousin of mine. Hepsaba Hink." Ron was
thinking frantically while Draco was looking skeptical. "I begged her to let me borrow
her earrings for this trip, see, because, um..I don't think you'll like this." Draco was now
looking extremely attentive and Ron was hoping desperately that his lie would work.
"They're charmed to make the wearer look..um..really attractive if you know what I
mean." Ron put on his best worried expression, which was pretty good considering that
he was, in fact, quite worried.
Draco looked like he was about to burst out laughing so Ron decided to cover up
whatever he was about to say with his best show of feminine hysterics, which was not so
good. "But I've lost them!" he wailed, pulling on his hair to look extra convincing. "I
lost them at the ball, you've got to help me find them. She'll kill me if I don't get them
back to her!" At this point Ron's thoughts froze on this rather stupid mistake. Draco
help him find them. Was he nuts? There was only one earring to begin with and it might
not even be there and if it was what was he going to do if it was still stuck to the
underside of the council chamber? How was he going to explain that one, huh?! Maybe
he could look under there quickly while Draco was looking somewhere else. Ron seized
on this thought.
Fortunately for Ron's cover (at the present moment anyway) Draco didn't seem to be
able to stand up well to female hysterics, however poorly acted. "Don't worry, we'll find
them, don't worry," he said putting his hands on Ron's shoulders to try to stop the
wailing. Ron stopped obligingly and just stared mutely at Draco, unsure of what to do
next.