Draco Malfoy and his Unknown Fate:

Author's Notes: Draco's in the infirmary and you find out what happened to Adder. By the way, notice the name. Poisonous snake? Yeah. Anyway. After this things get lighter from here on out.

Warnings for this chapter: Mentions of rape. And violence in an anecdote about the Malfoy temper. It's much milder than the previous chapter.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm merely borrowing them for the time being. This will be slash (eventually). Don't like it? Don't read it. Otherwise, enjoy.

When Draco finally reached consciousness he felt like he'd been trampled by a herd of Hippogriffs. He literally ached all over. Even his eyelashes hurt. The Slytherin groaned and managed to sit up with a minimum of pain, though it had cost him a maximum amount of effort.

"How are you feeling Draco?" He turned, not without some difficulty, to see Snape sitting next to his bed. He looked as composed as always, his hands folded gracefully in his lap.

"Take a wild guess." Draco croaked, giving his Head of House a sullen look.

"Ah, I thought so. Do you remember what happened?" Draco thought back and felt the rage boiling up inside him again. He felt a niggling worry and took the effort to rasp out a question.

"How's Peony?"

"As well as can be expected. The Parkinsons have taken her home to help her rest and recuperate. It's the best place for her to be right now." Draco couldn't help but agree. A thought occurred to him.

"And Adder? He was expelled, wasn't he?" It was implicit that Draco was going to raise seven kinds of hell if he hadn't been.

"Yes, he was expelled. The Ministry is holding him for questioning about his use of the Dark Arts. Apparently, he is the one responsible for the various animal remains found. Two other girls have come forward to say that he assaulted them too. At any rate, its highly unlikely we'll see Mr. Adder again."

There was a heavy pause. "As far as your punishment goes, you cost Slytherin one hundred and fifty points as well as volunteered yourself as my lab assistant for the rest of the year." Which meant detention whenever Snape needed an extra set of hands for his potions. Lovely. But, on the whole, better than expulsion.

"Is that all?" Draco asked warily.

Snape studied his slender student. "You also gave him a concussion, broke his nose, and cracked three of his ribs."

Draco felt a dark satisfaction welling up in him. Still, he wished he'd killed the bastard, Azkaban be damned. Though Draco really didn't mean it he couldn't help but think it at least once. If he'd had his wand instead of his broomstick there was no telling what he might have done to the other boy. He certainly had a lot of nasty, illegal dark curses tucked away in his brain and he'd been so angry he probably wouldn't have hesitated to cast them in public. Luckily, he'd been coming in from Quidditch practice instead of finishing up his Transfiguration homework. "I was angry." He muttered.

Snape snorted. "That is quite the understatement. You certainly have the Malfoy temper. Your grandfather Augustus once dismembered a thief he caught attempting to rob Malfoy Manor you know."

Draco sent him a look that clearly said "So?" It wasn't an unusual reaction among landowning aristocratic wizards after all; there was any number of spells for it.

"With his bare hands." Snape amended and Draco scrunched his nose up in disgust.

"Oh, eurgh."

Madame Pomfrey bustled in, all efficient professionalism. "Don't badger my patients Severus. Here you go Draco, drink this." Far too tired to argue, Draco complied and swallowed the contents of the vial handed to him. It tasted revolting of course; all useful potions did. "You did quite a number on Adder. I compliment you on a job well done. Try and get some rest, dear." Draco stared after her in bewilderment before turning to Snape. Not only had she actually told him she approved of his actions, but she'd called him by his given name which was certainly a first.

"Poppy has strong opinions on how rapists should be punished." Draco opened his mouth to question the Potions Master further when Snape headed him off. "You do realize that you broke your broomstick on Adder's head and the next Quidditch match against Ravenclaw is next week, don't you?"

Draco's eyes widened and he covered his face with his hand, moaning. "Oh no! I'm never going to beat Chang to the snitch on a school broom! What are we going to do? Slytherin just has to win the Quidditch Cup this year."

"Mr. Parkinson felt the need to repay you for your… retribution on Mr. Adder. He is willing to buy you a new Quicksilver to replace your broken broom. I advise you to accept his generous offer."

"A Quicksilver?! A Quicksilver?"

Snape's lips twitched. "Yes, Draco. A Quicksilver. Are you going to accept it?"

"Of course! It's a Quicksilver! That's literally an offer too good to be refused." Quicksilvers were even more expensive than Firebolts and Draco knew those cost a small fortune. Of course, Mr. Parkinson could well afford it. And Draco certainly couldn't scrape up enough money to buy a decent broom to replace his Nimbus 2001 and still manage to survive next summer, never mind the best there was. The Parkinsons were one of the few families who had wisely invested in Gringotts and as such were extravagantly wealthy. All Draco knew was that they owned more than the two vaults the Malfoy fortune boasted, though Pansy refused to tell him just how many they did have. The cost of his broom wouldn't even put a dent in their savings.

"I'll inform Mr. Parkinson that you accepted his offer."

"Potter's going to be positively green!" Draco cackled, unable to help himself.

Snape smiled slyly. "The thought did cross my mind when I suggested it to Mr. Parkinson."

This was wonderful and Snape, the wily bastard, was a bloody genius! Of course, Draco was upset that he'd only gotten his dream broom at the expense of Peony, but at least something good had come from such a terrible situation. It took a great deal of effort to push away the gloomy guilt at savoring the pleasure of receiving a new broom while the younger girl had been so hurt before he cheered himself up with the thought of how he'd beat Potter to the snitch. At least there was an upside and Draco couldn't afford to feel guilty about it when he had a Quidditch Cup to win. He was sure that Snape agreed, genius that he was.

"I could kiss you if I didn't find the thought so utterly repulsive. No offense. Maybe I'll have Pansy do it for me."

"I doubt Miss Parkinson would thank you for volunteering her services." Snape said dryly, obviously hiding his amusement.

Draco waved his hand negligently at the Potions Master. "She wouldn't mind half so much as you would think. I don't even pretend to understand it. Girls are so bloody bizarre." His words became a bit slurred towards the end of his sentence and his eyelids began to lower.

"I think Poppy's concoction is starting to set in. I'll have Mr. Zabini go around to collect your homework and bring it to you. You need to get your rest. Draco?" But Draco was already asleep, his mouth softened and slightly open as he snored quietly. Snape tucked the blanket around his favorite pupil carefully before leaving the Infirmary to make his trek down to the dungeons. Draco slept on, oblivious.

To be continued

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