Disclaimer: Much as I'd like to, I don't own Draco Malfoy, or any part of the magical world that J.K. Rowling has all the copyrights to ... please don't sue me. There are some parts of this story that are quotes from the book - it can't be helped - events are the same as in the book, but Draco's opinion of these events may vary from Harry's.

Author's Notes: I needed to do some re-writing, after reading OotP. I have made some minor changes to this chapter, mostly spelling and grammar.

Chapter 6 - Poison

I spent the next few weeks occupied with irritating Lockhart, schoolwork, winding up Lockhart, Quidditch practice, being rude to Lockhart, reading the Parseltongue book (which was next-to-impossible, and I'd barely read the first few pages), sabotaging Lockhart's classes (with Theo's help), trying to figure out how to get Potter expelled, and trying to figure out how to get Lockhart fired. All in all, I had a lot to do.

Then, I had a problem. Less than a week before Halloween, while I was writing out my DADA homework ('write a poem about Gilderoy Lockhart's capture of the Vauxhall Vampire' ... I was trying to find something that rhymed with 'useless', at that point), Higgs approached me.

"Hey. Malfoy." he said, in a polite voice that instantly made me suspicious, "I wanted to say, congratulations for getting on the team."

Now that was beyond suspicious. That was downright creepy. "You did?" I asked, in a disbelieving tone.

"Yeah." Higgs replied, still too polite, "I don't know how you did it, but if you can change Flint's mind, you deserve it. And I thought you did well enough at the try-outs, anyway." I still suspected an ulterior motive, here, and didn't let my guard down for a moment, "I just wanted to say, no hard feelings, really." he said, shrugging in a way that was supposed to look like he was shrugging off any negative feelings ... I doubted it was the least bit sincere. He then held out his hand, in a way that says he wants to shake on it, like he wanted me to agree that there were no bad feelings. I still didn't know what he was up to, but cautiously took his hand and shook it. Only then did I notice that he was wearing a glove ... a glove that must have been under an Unremarkable Charm (charm to make something go unnoticed, to look at) - because I only realised that he wore a glove when I felt leather instead of skin. As he let go of my hand, he grinned in a way that I was sure wasn't friendly, "Thanks." he said, before leaving.

That was just not right. I quickly scrawled the last line of my 'poem' ('and every word of it is truthless'), and abandoned my homework.

* * *

I made fast progress to Professor Snape's office.

"What do you want, Mr Malfoy?" Snape asked, as I entered his office.

"I was wondering if you could tell me something ... out of personal interest, about poisons." I said, trying to be tactful.

"Who are you trying to kill off, this year?" Snape asked, with an evil smirk.

"Truthfully, no one ... yet, anyway." I said, "I just wanted to know something, is all."

"What might you be interested in knowing?" Snape asked, in a way that implied he was very unlikely to tell me.

"Are there any poisons that can be administered by skin-contact?" I asked, trying to sound curious, rather than nervous.

"Several. Why?"

"Is there any way of checking for them, and telling which one, after it's been taken?"

"Yes. What, precisely, are you getting at, Mr Malfoy?"

"I want to check, because I have reason to believe I might have been poisoned." I answered.

"What gives you that idea?" Snape asked, although he seemed like he didn't want to know.

"Does it matter?" I asked.

"Not really. Where do you think you came into contact with the poison?"

"My hand." I said, holding up my right hand for him to look at.

"No visible signs of damage." Snape said, gripping my wrist, and looking at my palm, "I can cast a revealing spell, that should show any magic present ... of course, there are some non-magical poisons that may be used in this manner, but I doubt it." he said, looking at me in a way that implied that he could quite easily guess why I was poisoned and by who.

"Not likely." I agreed.

He cast a spell that I didn't quite hear, and a dark-red shapeless mark appeared on my hand. "This could be a problem." Snape muttered. As I looked at the red area, I saw that it was expanding ... slowly, but it was definitely growing.

"What is it?" I asked nervously.

"You were correct in your assumption that you were poisoned. I am surprised that you realised so quickly - usually this type of poison doesn't show symptoms until it is too late to prepare an antidote."

"It's not too late, now, though ... is it?" I asked, now getting really scared.

"No." Snape said, watching the redness spread to my wrist, and promptly dropping my hand. "It isn't contagious." he said quietly, as if to himself, before raising his voice to speak to me, "But you will need to go to the Hospital Wing the moment you start to show any symptoms."

"What symptoms?" I asked, "And more importantly, how do we cure it?"

"The antidote is simple, but takes three days to brew. Have you ever heard of the Blood Burning Potion?" he asked. I nodded, praying that wasn't what I'd been given, "It will take at least forty-eight hours before you start to feel ill, and another two days after that for it to become fatal." I winced at that last word. As if poisoning me wasn't bad enough, but it had to be a painful poison, too. Higgs would pay dearly for this ... the vengeful git. Snape continued to speak, "If I start work on the antidote, right away, you shouldn't suffer more than a mild fever."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" I asked immediately.

"I was wondering if you would like to help me make it? You are the best in your class, at Potions, and it might make the job take less time."

I nodded, desperate to get this fixed. It was a Wednesday, and I didn't want to miss any classes. I was just getting to a crucial stage in destabilising Lockhart's sanity, and if I missed his lesson on Friday, it would ruin weeks of work.

Snape led me into a small, separate potions classroom, which no one normally uses, and started getting out ingredients. "Top shelf, on that far wall. Second book from the right. Get it down." Snape said, not even looking up from the ingredients cupboard. I did as I was told, and as Snape set seven jars of various ingredients on the table, he then said, "Page fifty-three." and left the room. I opened the book to page fifty-three and started to read over the potion. It was an antidote for a variety of different burning and fire-related magics - everything from the Blood Burning Potion to Dragon fire. It was called the Ice Antidote ... fairly simple and obvious name, but it fitted its purpose pretty well. Snape returned, carrying a few more ingredients, which definitely weren't in the student cupboard, and we began working on the antidote.

* * *

It only took about twenty minutes to make the potion, but it needed to be stewed for the three days. I decided to pretend I was unaware of anything out of the ordinary. Snape agreed to play along. (Incidentally, the revealing charm wore off about five minutes after it was cast).

On Friday evening, I began to feel the effects of the poison, and I noticed Higgs watching me, intently, across the common room. How obvious could you get? I don't understand how that comes under the heading of sneaky ... Slytherins are supposed to be sneaky. I ignored the beginnings of a fever, in favour of reading my Parseltongue book ... I was still only on the first of thirteen chapters (and there's that number again - thirteen is my lucky number, and it shows up in almost everything I do).

Pansy was the first to notice something was wrong with me. "Draco - you don't look so good."

"I'm not good ... I'm the bad-guy, remember?" I replied automatically.

"No - I mean you look ill." she said, "I didn't know it was possible for your face to have colour in it."

I smiled weakly, "It's probably nothing. Don't worry, Pansy." I said. I couldn't help but notice, out of the corner of my eye, Higgs smirking when I said that. Does he think he won't get caught? Does he think I'm really stupid enough to accept an offer of 'no hard feelings' from someone I cheated out of their most prized possession? (his position as Seeker on the Quidditch team had meant everything to him ... at least as much as it means to me). Does he really think he'd get away with it if I did die?

After another few hours - just as most of the house had gone to bed, and I was about to, as well - I started to feel a real burning in my chest. This was literally heartburn - not what you normally think of as heartburn, but my heart itself was actually beginning to feel like it was on fire. The poison was kicking in to stage two. I knew that soon the pain would spread to the rest of my body, and I would eventually start to hallucinate ... unless I got the antidote first.

I picked myself up, biting my lip but not voicing the pain. I know how to deal with pain. Higgs was still awake, as was Pansy - they were the only others who hadn't gone to bed.

"Draco? What's wrong?" Pansy asked, standing up as soon as I did, and there was no point telling her I was fine, now.

"I don't feel too well. Maybe you were right, Pans. I think I ought to go to the Hospital Wing." I said, clutching my chest.

Pansy gave me a told-you-so look, before helping me up to the Hospital Wing. When I got there, I found an angry-looking Snape waiting for me. "Why didn't you come up here earlier?" he asked immediately. Pansy gave me a confused frown, but I shook it off.

"I didn't feel too bad till just now." I answered.

"According to my calculations, you should have been ill all evening." Snape growled, "Were you just trying to prove something?"

"No." I answered, glaring at him, "I have a high pain threshold. I didn't notice anything wrong until now."

"You could have collapsed on your way up here. You are lucky your girlfriend was with you." Snape snapped. That was low. And she's not my girlfriend ... although now I'll bet he's just encouraged her - she wishes she was my girlfriend, to the point of stalking me.

"I'll be fine. The potion's O.K., isn't it?" I asked, sitting down on one of the Hospital beds. Pansy sat next to me.

"Yes, it is. It will be ready to take tomorrow afternoon. You should be able to last that long - Madam Pomfrey will give you a cooling potion, which will ease some of the symptoms." Snape said, looking at me critically, "You should be more careful - if you knew that you were being poisoned, why did you let it happen?"

"It's one of those things -" I said, waving my hand dismissively, "You realise it's happened a second too late. And I'd like if someone could stay within hearing range of me, at all times. I'd bet a gloater will appear, eventually, and I'd like to get them caught."

"I'll see what I can do." and with that, Snape left the room, in the direction of Madam Pomfrey's office.

"Draco." Pansy said immediately, "Why didn't you tell me you'd been poisoned?"

"I didn't want to leave any chance of the culprit finding out that I knew about it. You won't tell anyone, will you, Pans?" I asked, in a plaintive voice.

"Of course not!" she said, sounding almost indignant, if she hadn't been trying to sound comforting at the same time, "I care about you, too. I want to see some justice for this."

"If they don't get caught, I'll ensure they get severely mutilated. Don't worry about that. But thanks, Pans. I hate to admit it, but Snape was right - I couldn't have made it up here without your help." I said, smiling weakly, through the pain. "I think you ought to go, now. Pomfrey's on her way, and you know how she gets about her patients."

Pansy smiled, and gave me a hug, before standing up, "Get well soon, Draco." she said sweetly, and scampered out of the room.

I lay back and closed my eyes in a grimace. The pain was getting worse. Still, as I said before, I know how to deal with pain.

* * *

The next morning, and quite conveniently (and most likely deliberately) at a moment when there was no one watching me, Higgs made an appearance in the Hospital Wing. "Hello, Malfoy." he said, grinning. "How are you feeling? I heard you were really ill. A fever, Pansy said."

"Yeah." I replied, not bothering to try to sit up. The cooling potions had helped but I wasn't going to take any chances, "Don't worry about me - I've felt worse." I added honestly.

"Do they know what it is, yet?" Higgs asked, trying to sound innocently curious ... and almost succeeding.

"I think so, but Madam Pomfrey hasn't told me anything." I answered truthfully ... Madam Pomfrey hadn't told me anything, it was Snape who had told me, I just didn't mention that part ... economy with the truth is the best form of lying.

"Why would they not tell you?" Higgs asked, now trying to sound concerned ... and failing terribly, this time.

"Either it's no big deal, or it's fatal." I said, trying to sound like I was joking.

"You think? What could be that bad?"

"I'm kind of rooting for the 'no big deal' option, myself."

"I dunno." Higgs said, shaking his head, "You really look pretty bad. Have you seen yourself? Your face is as red as a Weasley's hair."

"I did not need to have THAT comparison made, thank you very much." I snarled, "And didn't you know - I don't have a reflection." I added jokingly.

"Nah - a vampire'd be dust ages ago." Higgs said carelessly.

"What's that mean?" I asked, snatching the opportunity he had accidentally offered me.

"With a fever like yours?" he asked, in a sceptical tone, "I can feel the heat from here. No vampire could last that."

"Right." I said acidly, "I don't suppose you could tell me what's wrong with me? Cause unless you know, get out and leave me alone with my pain."

"I think I might have an idea." Higgs said, trying to sound cryptic.

"Well? Out with it." I snapped.

"Let's just say ... if you ever play Quidditch again, I'll be very surprised," he said, a vicious smirk crossing his face. "You didn't really believe me when I said 'no hard feelings' ... did you?"

"I thought there was something wrong with that picture." I said bitterly, "So what did you do to me?"

"You might get a little bit hotter, Malfoy." Higgs said, grinning, "It'll get to feel like your burning to death from the inside-out. You really will be, too. And it'll happen slowly. You might become delirious from heat long before the real pain starts - if you're lucky - cause what you're feeling now isn't half of it. And you'll end up literally bursting into flames ... some Muggles have referred to this poison's effects as 'spontaneous human combustion', since they don't recognise magical poisons, and some of our kind seem to think it's funny to do to them - your father, for example."

"Yeah. I think I know what you're talking about, now." I said, staring at the ceiling, "And if memory serves, it's now too late to start working on an antidote?" I added, making the last line sound like a question.

"That's right, yes." Higgs said, grinning victoriously, "You'll probably want to start writing your last will and testament while you're still lucid."

"I've already written it. About three years ago." I noted, trying not to sound too calm, but still calm enough to be annoying - it's a difficult balance to strike.

"Well, in that case - have a nice day, Malfoy." Higgs said in a truly cruel tone, before leaving me alone. I can't wait to see his reaction when I survive. I hope nothing bad happens to Snape, before he gets that antidote to me.

* * *

I woke up that afternoon, feeling a lot better. Snape was sitting next to me, holding an empty vial that must have contained the antidote. I must have been out of it when he gave it to me. "How are you feeling, now, Mr Malfoy?" Snape asked, looking genuinely concerned - not something you see often, on him.

"Better." I said, sitting up, "You gave me the antidote?"

"Yes. You came round a few seconds after I administered it," he replied.

"I suggest you let me break the bad news to my poisoner." I said, grinning, "Does anyone else know I was even ill?"

"It's a Saturday, so you haven't missed any classes." Snape said calmly, "I don't think anyone, beyond myself, Madam Pomfrey, Miss Parkinson, and the one responsible for your 'illness', knows anything more than that you had a bad dose of flu."

"That's good. Let's keep it that way. If people knew it was that easy to poison me, I doubt there'd be any time lost on the part of a number of students I could name." I said, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed - I truly felt perfectly well, now. "Can I go, then?"

"I am not authorised to let you leave here. That would be Madam Pomfrey's decision." he answered, "However, I don't see the problem in getting out of bed and stretching your legs."

And at that moment, Madam Pomfrey came in, "Mr Malfoy - what do you think you are doing?"

"Feeling better. Getting up. Hopefully leaving." I said, setting my feet down on the cool floor, letting the coldness comfort me, "I am all cured. Can I go, now?"

Madam Pomfrey glared at me, but Snape spoke up, "The antidote I gave him works instantaneously. He should be in perfect health now, Madam Pomfrey." I nodded in agreement, and Madam Pomfrey relented to let me go. No one but a small group of Slytherins ever found out that I had been poisoned, and few beyond that even noticed that I had been in the Hospital Wing for one night.

All in all, I think it was a good thing. I scared the crap out of Higgs, when I returned to the common room after he thought that I should have been dead. I got a lot of sympathy from all my friends. It didn't affect my Quidditch practice in the slightest. Yes, I think the benefits were almost worth it. I still plan to return the murder-attempt, eventually. And Malfoys don't make mistakes - if I decide to kill him, he will die. I'll probably just give him something painful and unsightly, though - not so many legal implications as killing him might bring up.

* * *

End of chapter 6