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*** Lycr thanks so much for the nice review! And I read the updates to your story, only ff wouldn't let me review but let me tell you it was wonderful! Keep writing and thanks for reading! TallemeraRane I'm trying to bring fluffiness all around but it is sometimes hard with a plot! Thanks for the review! JemG thanks so much for losing sleep for this story! It really is so nice of you! Thanks and enjoy! Shaunna Mitch and Katie have talked since she woke up, which is how she knew it was him. Sorry for not explaining that better! Enjoy this chapter! AmericanAngel Malfoy had to drink it because there wasn't a Plan B! Oops on my part! LOL! Sorry it's taken so long to update! Thanks for sticking by me though! Felicia thanks for being such an awesome beta-reader! It means so much to me that you're willing to do this for me! Hermione Weasley enjoy this chapter, OK? I hope you like it and thanks for your review! Maddy Leigh sorry that I probably kept you waiting for this chapter! I didn't mean to take so long! Thanks for your nice review! Lily Michelle I have one little answer for you: one of your questions is addressed and finalized…enjoy! Angelic Ashley I'm afraid Malfoy does not sleep with a Care Bear but aside from that, enjoy this chapter! Rei thanks for your nice little review and you will like this chapter if you specifically like those two pairings…Soupcann314 you are such an awesome reviewer! Thanks for everything! Magical*Me love the name, first of all and secondly, thanks for the nice review! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Rdaviessweety thanks for the superb review! HermionesTwin thanks for your nice little review and I hope you've caught up on your reading! Marjojo my finals went OK, thanks for asking! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for everything! Kim I believe you have reviewed before but that doesn't matter because I appreciate your review all the same! Thanks so much! Triniroo enjoy the chapter! Moongirl I won't say what but you're right: something does happen in this chapter! Thanks for the nice review! HpFaNaTiCa thanks so much for the praise! It is greatly appreciated! Dragoneye thank you for your million reviews! I appreciated each and every one of them! Enjoy! Jenny long time, no see! It's great to see you again! Thanks for your nice review and I understand completely! It's taking me forever to update lately so I'm sorry if I'm not posting fast enough…I'm trying! Thanks for your review! AmericanMonkey38 I'll definitely read you're story Moonlight Magic tonight after work or tomorrow sometime, OK? Thanks for your review! Celeste if you loved the last chapter, I hope you love this one too! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Thanks everyone for all your patience, it all means so much to me and I appreciate it greatly! Enjoy this chapter! I'll try to have the next one out within the week! Thanks again!
Chapter 48: The Blonde Slytherin
Harry tugged the Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders tightly. Malfoy was going to catch him; he knew the slimy git would know something was different about his drink. There was no way they were going to get away with this, especially if Snape found out some ingredients were missing.
He blinked in rapid succession, telling himself not to worry and that he was Harry Potter, Harry Potter didn't worry.
Honestly! He had saved the world once from certain doom and he was a baby then, one would think he could do the same now.
The Slytherins lived in the dungeons of Hogwarts and Harry thought it appropriate, evidently so did the professors as there were no complaints from them.
Reaching the dungeon was the easy part, it would be getting into the common room that might prove difficult, especially since there was no one behind Harry who might whisper the password.
Leaning against the wall next to the door Harry muttered obscenities.
"Who's there?" a rogue character in a picture asked.
Harry fell dead quiet.
"Who goes there? I know you're there! I hear you!" the picture yelled again and again. The only other painting on the otherwise bare walls glared at him, hissing at him to shut his mouth for he was ruining her beauty sleep. If she meant to get beauty sleep, Harry didn't think she'd ever had beauty sleep.
The male painting yelled Harry's exact thoughts.
"Well if you weren't such a lousy slob…!" the other yelled so loudly Harry very nearly missed hearing the distinct sound of feet descend the stairs to the lair of the Slytherin House.
Malfoy's telltale platinum blonde hair reflected what little light was in the hallway and he was muttering words to himself. Harry couldn't tell what he was saying for the life of him.
Harry held his breath without meaning to. Malfoy was still muttering incoherently when he stopped in front of the door. "Die Harry die," he muttered in a voice barely above the one he had just been muttering.
Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise. Did Malfoy know he was standing right there? No, that wouldn't be possible. Malfoy would have punched him to his knees if had known…the door swung open.
Die Harry die? That was their password? Harry felt so sickened by it he nearly forgot to follow the bastard of a bastard in the common room. There had to be something in some rule book somewhere that said a death threat used as a house password was illegal, or at least cause for major detention.
Malfoy threw his cloak down carelessly and Harry had the distinct feeling Malfoy had gone through more than one cloak so far this year, if he treated his cloak that way all the time.
Harry hid in the shadows of the dark room, feeling as if Malfoy knew he was there and that he knew exactly where in the room he was. Malfoy sipped from a glass of pumpkin juice—the orange color gave it away.
It's your turn to do this now Harry, he told himself. He stepped closer to Malfoy one step at a time, in fervent prayer he wouldn't somehow signal his presence to the blonde Slytherin.
Malfoy didn't look away from the window he was staring out of, not even as he was sipping his juice. The closer Harry got to Malfoy he could see that the stupid git was staring at his reflection in the mirror.
Harry could almost hear Ron call his dearest enemy a wanker. And that he was. Harry stifled a laugh.
Since he was laughing he hardly noticed the end table and knocked into it. For one fateful moment, it rocked back and forth on its feet as if it was trying to decide whether or not it should tip over.
Harry couldn't utter a relieved sigh when it settled on remaining upright but Malfoy turned around. His pale blue eyes frantically searched the common room before setting on Harry. Of course, he didn't know Harry was there.
He eyed the end table suspiciously and set down his drink, swiftly coming to the end table and looking at it more closely.
It was right there. The juice was right there. Harry could have reached out and touched it, it was so close. But if he reached out to touch it, his arm would have appeared from no where and that wasn't exactly something Harry wished for.
Malfoy though had seemingly forgotten about his drink, and the end table when the hottest girl Harry had ever seen entered the common room. Dena Crossly was definitely hot, Harry thought as she swaggered by. Even Malfoy seemed to be drooling.
"Dena, could I carry those for you?" Malfoy offered while motioning to the books in her arms.
She seemed to consider it, her dark brown eyes snapping and popping with each thing she considered. A smile tugged at the corners of her succulent lips and Harry had the feeling she knew Draco Malfoy was putty in her hands.
"Of course you can, Draco," she said. Draco grinned and rushed to her side, taking the books from her as if he was actually that polite.
They disappeared together and Harry thanked the stars for Dena Crossly. And then he thanked the stars that Dena was as hot as she was. He moved silently and swiftly, dropping the orange gel pill into the pumpkin juice. It dissolved quickly.
Harry moved back into the shadows of the room and waited for Malfoy to reappear. It would only be ten minutes before the slimy git reappeared but they were the longest ten minutes of Harry's short life. Malfoy was definitely snickering when he came back.
Immediately he took a swig from his drink. Harry grinned from beneath the cloak. It was easy, too easy.
Harry turned for the door and it was then he realized that he'd be seen if he went out the door. Shit. "Oh bloody hell," he murmured, "just go." They didn't have that long to wait. Pansy, although she was easily hateable, needed to wake up.
"Oh to hell with it," he muttered before practically diving out of the door and tumbling into an invisible heap at the foot of the door. Five seconds later, Harry was running, invisibly, down to the Infirmary.
***
Ron, Hermione and Parvati were waiting impatiently in the Infirmary when the door swung open by unseen forces. Madame Pomfrey looked up from the information she was transferring and gave the offending door the evil eye.
Ron choked back a snicker when he realized his friend had forgotten to take off the cloak. Hermione and Parvati refused to look in Harry's apparent direction, fearing that they would give away his presence.
Harry's redheaded best friend however, groaned and grunted until Harry understood that the cloak was still on. He went and hid behind a fabric partition and unveiled himself. Well, now what was he supposed to do the cloak? Stuff it in his pocket? Right. He searched around frantically until deciding to stuff the cloak into…oh bugger! He'd probably forget it anyway.
Harry poked around outside of the partition and motioned for his friends to look. Parvati immediately saw the predicament and tossed him the light rucksack she carried around for makeup and things.
Throwing a grateful grin in his girlfriend's direction he hastily stuffed the shimmering cloak into her bag and tossed it back just as Ron asked that Madame Pomfrey would call Malfoy down.
She looked at them curiously, knowing the war that went on between them but resigned herself to doing as they told and called for Mr. Draco Malfoy to come to the Infirmary.
Lavender was reading a beauty tip magazine and Padma was napping. Katie was watching Lee under veiled eyes and Lee was reading a book on Quidditch. Carmen was also watching Lee, and her darkened expression told observers she was not happy.
Malfoy came grudgingly in. Ron immediately turned on the ugly git. "What?" he asked in a deadpan voice.
"Malfoy, tell Pansy Parkinson how you feel about her," Ron directed. His voice was commanding and a glimmer of amusement was heard.
Malfoy shrugged. "Alright. I can't stand her. The ugly, pug nosed bitch. She's always following me around—
"No, no Malfoy," Hermione interjected. She stepped up next to Ron and clasped his hand in her own. "I do believe my boyfriend Ron told you to tell Pansy, not us."
Icy blue eyes stared at the angrily and they could tell Malfoy was fighting to not tell them the truth.
"Truth potions work nicely, don' they you ugly, slimy git?" Ron asked.
Malfoy glowered. "I'll kill you," he threatened.
Ron smirked. "Now Malfoy, don't make promises you can't keep." He motioned to the stilled Slytherin. "Now tell Pansy how you feel."
"I don't like you Pansy. I can't stand you." He turned his stare to Ron. "Happy?"
"Very," Ron said. "Now, why don't you tell us what you really think of us; since you're on this truthful kick, you know."
"Kiss my arse," he grumbled.
"Mr. Malfoy!" Madame Pomfrey's biting voice sliced the air. "You will have to refrain from using such language in my wing! You may get away with that at home, but not here!" she reprimanded.
Malfoy looked at the four standing students like he was about to spit fire at them. Instead, he clamped his mouth shut and spun out of the Infirmary before he'd tell them what he really thought of them.
Stifled fits of laughter followed the blonde hair Slytherin to his dorm.
***
Lee watched Natalie enter the Infirmary with a sultry walk. He'd always seen her around but he'd never noticed before.
And then there was Carmen. And Katie.
He liked Katie, didn't he? He didn't even know Carmen, of that he was pretty sure…and Natalie was a completely different story all together. Natalie was the one who had broke the curse for him. She was the reason he was awake right now, didn't that count for something?
He knew it counted for a lot.
Looking at Katie, who appeared rested and calm, although maybe a little too thin, he realized she didn't hold a candle to Natalie anymore. Besides, if she wanted him, she could have Mitch, he told himself.
So did that mean he wanted Natalie? And what about Carmen? Where did she fit into the confusion?
He shook his head to try and dislodge his confused thoughts.
Lee opened his eyes when he felt the bed depress, only to see Natalie sitting there with a reflective smile on her face. "Hi Lee," she started quietly.
"Hi." He looked at her thoughtfully and she stared back unabashedly. She really was very pretty and he loved the time they'd spent together. "I-never mind," he muttered. It might just have been him but he felt as if everyone in the Infirmary was staring at them.
"They're all watching us," she whispered, leaning closer to him. Heat radiated from her body as she blushed.
He touched her face and leaned forward; knowing what he was going to say and knowing that he wanted it more than anything. Her eyes seemed to swallow his whole self as leaned closer to her. Their lips were barely touching although he wasn't kissing her. He was looking her in the eye. "I choose you."
OK, sorry this has taken forever to write! I'm not burnt out for ideas or anything; it's just that my life consists of working and sleeping lately. I'm trying! Thanks to everyone who has stuck by me through the past couple of months! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.
