Chapter 21: Nubeculae

            "I wish that you had asked Professor Trelawney the answers to the Transfiguration exam when you visited her. It was hellish." Draco sat at his desk, chewing the top of his gold-nibbed quill.

            "I'm sure you passed, Draco: your duck looked like a water lily in the end, didn't it?" said Hermione, sitting on his bed reading their potions textbook Most Potente Potions. "And at least you didn't have to run to the toilet to pee every half hour." She munched on a chocolate from a large bag of chocolates which Draco had brought back from Honeydukes for her. She had developed a huge craving for chocolates two weeks ago. The month before, it had been tomatoes- luckily, Harry had persuaded Dobby to give him a large bag from the kitchens.

            "Yes, but the written exam was terrible. I forgot the incantation to turn animals into water-goblets- and it was a ten-mark question! Only Potions left, thank the gods" said Draco as he tried to remember all the ingredients that went into Veritaserum. There was a rumour going around that that question came out every year for the NEWTS. Draco was good at Potions.

            "And Snape wouldn't fail you would he? The next Assistant Potions Master!" she giggled. "Imagine if you taught Ginny, she would just die."

            "Well, I'm still going to take as many points of the Gryffindors as I can." Draco threw down his quill and stretched as he walked over to where Hermione was sitting on his bed.

            "Don't you dare." Hermione scolded him idly. "You're to be nice to us, you hear?"

            "Well, if Neville is kept back I don't think I can help it. The boy blows up a cauldron a week!"

            "He'll pass." Hermione said calmly. "I've been tutoring him …how do you think he passed potions all the other years as well?"

            "Dunno…never considered it" observed Draco. He stretched himself out on the bed beside Hermione and pried the potions book away from her fingers. He began kissing her gently.

            "Prefects' meeting in ten minutes, Draco" Hermione warned, pushing him away.

            "Mmmm…I know" he said, loosening her tie.

            "Oh you!" she slapped his hands away. He caught her hands in his and smirked.

            "Just a kiss for your dragon," he begged, seeing her huff.

            She obliged, then pushed him off the bag of chocolates. She took another one out eagerly.

            "You'd better go easy on those chocolates. I don't want my son born coated in Honeyduke's Peppermint Cremes."

            "Don't worry, with you as his father he'll probably come out coated in self-worship."

            Draco kissed Hermione's slightly rounding tummy. She was about five months pregnant. It was a good thing school would be ending soon or people would start to notice. He felt terribly sad when he thought of the long summer holidays without her. But at least she would be back in September. Then what…? He tried not to think about it.

            "Don't think about it." She whispered to him, knowing what he was thinking about. She thought of it every single day as well.

            Draco nodded and kissed her tummy again. He stood up and straightened his tie. He took a comb out of his pocket and slicked back his hair.

            Hermione swung herself off the bed and he gently took her hands and lifted her to her feet. "Prefect's meeting." she said and grimaced, her back hurt a little from the extra weight she had begun to carry around. "Damn, and I have to pee again. Just a moment please" she said heading for the toilet.

            Draco took out their speeches from his cloak pocket. They had both written them on the same piece of parchment- hers first, then his. They had torn the parchment in half so that each had their own speech. He carefully fitted the pieces together where they had been torn apart. He was ridiculously pleased to notice they fit together perfectly.

            "Ready," Hermione said, smoothing her unruly brown hair back and fastening it with a hair clip. She picked up her book bag. "Let's go."

            The prefects had been assigned an unused classroom to be used as their common room. Each had brought something to make it look pretty. Hannah Abbot had donated velvet curtains and Justin Finch Fletchley had brought a thick carpet. Mandy Brocklehurst had provided the cushions on which Harry and Ron were now sitting. Ginny's year was absent from this meeting because their year was having their Herbology exam.

            "I call this meeting to order" said Hermione, sitting down in a large armchair. Draco sat in one opposite her.

            "Hear hear" Justin and Harry called out, as they always did. Mandy sucked on a sugar quill and offered one to Sally Anne Perks, a Slytherin prefect.

            "First on the agenda, the Graduation Ball is in ten days. Decorations- are we sorted?" asked Draco.

            "Sorted. But Madam Sprout says she can't gurarantee more than five hundred apples. We might have to transfigure the remainder." said Terry Boot, who was in charge of decorations together with Mandy Brocklehurt.

            "Right. That should not be a problem. Next on the agenda, inivitations. How are we doing on the replies."

            "All right. A few muggles married to wizards or witches were a bit unhappy about not being able to come…but Dumbledore wrote to them specially. Only two sets of parents haven't replied."

            "Whose?"

            "Mr Sirus Black, legal guardian of Harry Potter… (Oh he's out of town, said Harry)…and Mr and Mrs Lucius Malfoy. Your parents, Malfoy." Said Hannah Abbot, checking her list.

            Hermione froze. She had forgotten that parents had been invited since her own had not been, being muggles. Draco caught her eye but remained calm. "I will owl them to remind them. Next item on the agenda, food…" He was going to have to sort this out with her later, he thought.

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            "But why can't they just not come?" asked Hermione, for the third time.

            "Because my father is one of the governors of the school board and he wants to come! Hermione, I've told you, it's going to be okay. I promise." It was almost a quarrel- the first real disagreement she had had with Malfoy in a long time. They were in their sitting room.

            "It feels too *close*. Like if he looked at me he will know. Like Professor Trelawney."

            "Professor Trelawney is a seer. My father is not. And anyway, he won't know whose child it is anyway, will he? And my mother is dying to see you in person…she's over the moon about having a grandchild. And you won't have to spend any time near Lucius at all- you're Head Girl…you'll be on stage then meeting all the other parents."

            "I know."

            "We must try to act normal Hermione. Lucius doesn't know about us yet- most of Hogwarts doesn't know and they've been around us for ages. There's no way he will find out on that day."

            She nodded, still nervous at the thought of having Lucius in Hogwarts. She sighed as Draco began kissing her.

            "Let's make the best of our time here, 'Mione. I won't see you again till you come back to have our baby."

            "I will miss you terribly, Draco."

            "I know. But you must believe me when I say that everything will be all right in the end. And I'll be right here in Hogwarts for the next year- nothing bad will happen then. I'll be completing my Auror training and helping Dumblefore and Snape figure out a way to prevent Lucius from making another Philosopher's Stone. And we will find an answer- Dumbledore helped make the first one, remember?"

            "I know. But Flamel isn't around anymore to help…I don't know why they can't just arrest your father and destroy that Cinnabar."

            "They wouldn't have any proof. Lucius could conceal everything in a second. After Harry put my father in Azkaban in the Fifth year, they raided the Malfoy Manor but couldn't find a thing. It's all been very cleverly concealed. That's why Lucius got out…no evidence, just Harry's word against his."

            Hermione shuddered. They all had thought that would be the end of the Death Eaters, when in Fifth year, Harry and the former Order of the Phoenix had rounded up a whole lot of the in the Ministry of Magic. But Cornelius Fudge had been weak…as he still was…and refused to convict without evidence. Lucius' gold had found its way into the pockets of more than one Ministry official and his name had been cleared after a rather nasty hearing in which Harry had screamed himself hoarse and Lucius had smirked calmly back. Then Lucius had done something terrible in the sixth year involving members of the Order…but no-one could find proof…not without bodies.

            Hermione sadly unbuttoned Draco's shirt, there were extra red cuts there since he had come back from the Easter holidays – apparently his father had been showing him  Dark Duelling, with a Gladeus Maleus. It was hard for Draco to hide his training in Auror Duelling and this had caused him to perform very badly in front of Lucius. He had received quite a bit of punishment for his apparent ineptitude.

            Hermione set to work healing the welts. She rubbed a bit of ointment onto them and muttered a vanishing charm. They were harder to remove than normal scars because they had been inflicted with Dark Magic. For the last two weeks, she had succeeded in making them fade only a little.

            "I guess the Graduation Ball is the least of our worries, I'm sorry I was being so emotional about it." She said eventually.

            "That's all right, I know how worried you must feel. I'll try my best to keep Lucius far away from you, if you're that worried."

            "Thanks. I've finished the ointment for tonight."

            "Mmm…feels much better," Draco said, stripping down to his boxers. "Tomorrow is our last exam… we'd better go to bed." He kissed her neck gently.

            "You go, I want to study a little more."

            Draco felt surprised and bit hurt. Since they had started sleeping together, Hermione had never gone to bed without him at night.

            "Are you serious? You've covered everything in that book three times."

            "Yes. Last exams always make me nervous."

            Draco shrugged. "Well, don't stay up too late.

He turned away from her and went into his bedroom. He slipped under the covers but felt too upset to sleep. He wished Hermione would be braver about the Graduation Ball. Then again, she must be feeling extra sensitive what with the pregnancy hormones and exam stress…

            He thought he saw Hermione move from the sofa to the desk in the common room. A light came on at the desk. This was ridiculous, he shouldn't be feeling so ungracious toward her…she was having to deal with so much! He was just about to get out of bed and look for her when the light outside snapped off. Soft footsteps came into the bedroom and Hermione slipped into bed beside him. She had been crying.

            "Draco Malfoy… I'm scared" she said, softly. "I never thought I would be- but I am. School's ending, and then I may never see you again. At times, it seems that these six months will never really replace the six years of distance between us. Sometimes, I look at you and I'm still not sure whether you are my Draco or the Malfoy who called me a mudblood. What if you change your mind?"

            Draco pulled her into a tight embrace. He was scared too.

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            Ten dark hooded figures stood around a central figure dressed in crimson robes. They were in the dungeons of an old castle. The crimson-clad figure was the tallest of them all but his face was kept hidden behind a skull-like mask. A large snake moved endlessly around the circle.

            "What news, my faithful servants?" he hissed.

            "We have discovered the names of more Aurors in the Ministry- some of whom were part of the old Order of the Phoenix." said one of the figures. "We will be disposing of them soon- as we did with those others in the Order."

            "About time, Nott. I am tired of the trouble these remaining members cause my plans- you must kill them all. The Order of the Phoenix is over. The members are scattered, weak, in despair….after we destroyed Fletcher, Shacklebolt, Tonks and Diggory. They are not even worth my spit. You have taken too much time on this simple matter already. I expect you to speed things up."

            "Please, my lord, they are very hard to find…"

            "EXCUSES..." interrupted the figure in red. "…are only for the weak. And those who are weak are not fit to serve me- remember what happened to Pettigrew and MacNair."

            Nott bit his tongue at the thought of the horrible deaths his fellow Death Eaters had suffered after they had failed to darry out the Dark Lord's commands the previous year. Their fate was worse than that of those who had been sent back to Azkaban three years ago after a disastrous break-out. "My Lord, we have information that Hogwarts may be training Aurors- now that the old Order is defunct, Dumbledore appears to be trying to build up a new one with specially trained Aurors…far better trained than at the Ministry, I hear."

            "That fool Dumbledore…he never knows when to give up! And from whom did you hear this?" thundered Voldemort.

            "From me, My Lord" said one of the hooded figures.

            Voldemort turned in the direction of the voice, "Ah…Snape…one of my best spies. Tell me all you know."

            Snape felt the cold fingers of Voldemort's prying mind reaching into his own brain. The truth, what are you thinking. Years of resisting mind-invasion by Voldemort meant that Snape was a skilled Occlumens who immediately blanked his mind of all emotion except the one he wanted to reveal to Voldemort. "I have been excluded from training sessions. I believe Dumbledore oversees the training himself. I do not know who is involved…except two or three students from the Final Year. I hear they are very powerful, the most powerful students in the school."

            He felt Voldemort's mind prying for the names of the students, checking to see if he knew them. He resisted the Legilimens.

            "And who are they? Have you any idea?"

            "Harry Potter, I am almost sure" said Snape boldly. It was the only safe name to give as he had been instructed by Dumbledore. It would give Voldemort no advantage whatsoever over the situation since he was constantly out for Potter's blood anyway. "I have no idea who the rest are."

            "I expect you to find out. Well done, Snape" said Voldemort.

            Snape bowed his head.

            Voldemort continued, "My time approaches. One prophesy will come to fruition anyway, even though the other weighs heavy on my mind. Malfoy…my most cunning servant, how does your research go? I am tired of being in this hideous crippled form."

            "We are near success my lord. I have obtained a pure sample of the main ingredient."

            "Excellent. And your son? He is aware of his role in this matter?"

            "As you have instructed my lord- I have included him in the plans. After much forceful…persuasion…he seems to be more co-operative, he has agreed to aid me in my research and help me spy on matters at Hogwarts where your enemy has his stronghold.

            "Snape…you know of this?" rasped the figure, turning to another Death Eater.

            "I arranged it, my lord. I have been working on the boy the past seven years- as Lucius says, as he nears his destiny he appears to be accepting his fate."

            "See this…" Voldemort told the other Death Eaters "These are two of my most competent servants. The rest of you are filthy worms."

            Lucius smirked and the other Death Eaters cowered. Snape bowed slightly.

            "Do not be complacent, though" Voldemort hissed at Malfoy and Snape. "Your son carries the blood necessary to my rebirth in his veins…his full co-operation is necessary. We have foreseen it- but lately, I have also foreseen a slight…interruption. I don't know what it is yet- but I am never wrong." Lucius felt the mind of Voldemort prying into his own…searching for news of his son.

            "I cannot foresee any problem, the boy is turning to you, My Lord," said Snape.

            Lucius eyed him shrewdly.

            "I would like to speak to your son before the Ritual, Malfoy. I cannot tolerate mere boys but as I understand it, he will soon be of age. Another faithful Malfoy in my service will be much appreciated."

            Lucius bowed, "You are too kind, My Lord."

"Goyle, do you have the usual?"

            Goyle came forward carrying a goblet of dark red fluid. It was blood. Voldemort took the cup and drank greedily. "Soon, I will not need this filthy substitute blood any longer…My life and beauty shall be sustained for all eternity. The blood of Harry Potter already runs in my veins, soon, so shall the blood of the dragon. I will not be Potter's equal" (he spat the word out like it tasted bad), "I shall be his superior!"  He returned the cup to Goyle and removed his skull-like mask to reveal a slit-eyed face with burning red eyes. The large snake coiling around the circle hissed and turned to her master. "Yes Nagini, you know me in this form. Look upon me, faithful ones. Soon, I will truly be whole again and Potter will not be able to harm so much as a hair on my head- we'll see who triumphs in the end! We'll see which prophesy prevails you old fool Dumbledore. Malfoy, bring your son to me on his next birthday. It is time he met his Lord."

            "Yes, My Lord."

            Snape kept is face impassive. His heart was racing.