Against All Odds
Chapter Twelve
Koneko-chan Says!
Stefani: *reads over previous chapter* *sighs in relief* I can't believe I almost copied my entire future story summary into the last chapter's author notes! That would have made it impossible for me to write. I'm glad I didn't. Besides, it would have lost a lot of the little suspense I manage to spin into my work. What am I without that little bit of suspense? My incredible wit? Incredibly hot male characters? *pauses* Actually, I wouldn't mind receiving them all on my doorstep wrapped in bright crimson ribbon.
Heero-chan: *walks past*
Stefani: Where are you going?
Heero-chan: Out. *walks out random door that appears on stage*
Stefani: *blink blink* Um…?
Chibi-Relena: *walks past*
Stefani: And where are you going?
Chibi-Relena: To get Heero-chan. And cookies.
Stefani: Why?
Chibi-Relena: I.M.F.F.
Stefani: Mmph?
Chibi-Relena: I.M.F.F. International Muses Freedom Federation. It's our day off.
Stefani: *eyes widen* You have a day off?!
Chibi-Relena: *walks out random door that appears on stage*
Nanashi: *walks past*
Stefani: *dives for him*
Nanashi: *attempts to get away*
Stefani: *hog-ties Nanashi to a convenient metal pole near her desk (don't ask, don't even think)* Sit. Stay.
Nanashi: … Why do I put up with this?
Stefani: *hugs Nanashi* Because otherwise Angel would kill me. *sweetly* And then you would then be directly bequeathed to her.
Nanashi: (O_O)
Chibi-Relena, Heero-chan: *dashes out of random door* *eyes wide with sudden fear* Day off over!
Stefani: *smiles completely satisfied*
~*~*~*~
Professor Sa Lai was not having a good time of class. The students, though they tried their utmost to be friendly, were still unable to cope very well with having a vampiress as their professor. She was only glad that her eyes had bled back into their regular silver. It had taken a long time for the blood red of her pupils to disappear, most likely because it had been a long time since she had fed off a human, and the sensation approached utter ecstasy, both for her and her victim. Sadly, her 'victim' had happened to be a coworker, and she was still outraged and ashamed of herself with her lack of willpower. It might have been worse. She might have attacked a student.
Shaking her head, she dismissed the class early, and managed to meander her way out of her classroom and through the halls. She sighed, brushing aside a lock of her long dark hair. Their discussion that class had led to Voldemort's Dark Mages, and she might have been a fount of information, had there been the uncertainty that there were spies among the students. As unlikely as it might have seemed, there was always a chance, and if Voldemort knew that she was here, and teaching, he would do all he could do to stop her.
Steps had to be taken. She couldn't allow them to find her, and yet she had accepted a position in a well-known school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And the students would talk. Their parents would find out, and owls would be filling the sky to demand that their children could not be risked under the tutelage of a vampire.
As if she had always been a monster, and had never a human.
She needed help, and the ways of the Darks Arts was the most familiar of all the magicks that she knew. Whether or not she could use them to her advantage was another thought however. One could not use them for personal gain unless they were willing to sacrifice much to get what they wanted. And as loathe as she was to admit it, she needed another's help. Not Dumbledore, surely. He would be horrified by the fact that she needed to return to the Dark Arts in order to achieve her anonymity. There was only one other that was as knowledgeable as she in the Dark Arts and the ways of Voldemort's clan.
But Snape was, in the terms of these British, a pain in the arse. He did not trust her, and she most assuredly could not trust him. He had shown his true colors once before and betrayed the Dark Order… he just might do the same for the Dumbledore's Order. She smiled wryly. Then again, she was the same, was she not? Sighing, she opened the door to her office and slipped in.
"Ah, my Angel we meet again." she stopped in mid-step, her hands came up and a spell readied itself on her lips as a reflex. She'd never really had much use for wands anyway.
Lucius Malfoy sat in her chair. No, that wasn't quite right. Lounging, in her chair was what he was doing. And still managed that superior cavalier look. Impressive.
"It's been a long time… I'm amazed you haven't forgotten about me."
Smiling ruefully, he stood up. "One can never forget a Mistress like yourself."
She frowned at him. "So finally you feel shame for allowing yourself to be taken up with the likes of me?"
"Oh no, my Angel… quite the contrary in fact." He smiled, and it was not a pleasant one. "You see, serving you was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Not only did it bring me closer to the Dark Lord, but…" here he smiled at her, "You were a very good teacher and a great mentor to me in the Dark Order."
She raised an eyebrow, and did not put down her hands, though she moved forward, closer into the office and shutting the door behind her. "I know you too well to believe that you would take it into your head to suddenly come and visit me at this school. What do you want?"
His mannerism became completely and utterly serious. "I want to know if you are mad to try and go up against the Dark Lord… especially now."
"I never knew you would care about one such as I, Lucius." Her voice became constricted and thick with rage, "Nor would I imagine that you above all people would be groveling at Voldemort's feet like some dog waiting to be kicked!"
"How dare you—"
"How dare I?" she growled, as she pulled a corner of her lips to flash one long fang. "I received nothing more by working in his services than my death. Simply because I was too powerful, because he viewed me as a threat." She shook her head, "I taught you how to survive in his Order, Lucius Malfoy, I did not teach you that it isn't possible to gain and hold power with a master like Voldemort."
"He will win, my Angel… we're already gathering to kill Harry Potter now. Dumbledore will fall."
"He is afraid of a mere boy. A boy that he could not kill when he was but a baby has defeated him and defied him, several times over now. The boy is strong, and the forces that surround him and protect him are strong as well. Voldemort is rallying his forces now because he needs to defeat the boy before he comes out a fully-trained wizard. He has already planted his spy inside the school. Did he really believe I did not know?" she sneered.
Lucius shook his head, "He does not know you are yet here. You have disappeared quite well from his thoughts… I expected nothing less from the best of the Dark Mages."
"What are you doing here Lucius? You have not answered my question."
"I need to know which side will win. You have always been the one who knew even before the Dark Lord did. You did not choose to be on Harry Potter's side simply because you wanted revenge on Him, did you?"
She eyed him, blinking owlishly. "You are not as sure of yourself as you make your son believe."
He jerked back into the chair, "How—?"
"As you said, I am the best of the Dark Mages, though my strength may be diminished during the day. And I have known you since you were seventeen… I know of all the enchantments you cast on your only son in order to keep him bound to you, to contact him, and I know that you wished to present him to Voldemort… until you found out I had switched sides."
She smiled, unpleasantly. "Ah, so you are still the same. Always the one to look towards the winning side, lusting for power others have and you do not. Tell me, are you willing to sacrifice even your son to gain Ultimate Power?"
To his credit, he answered truthfully. "Yes."
"How ever did I guess? Lucius Malfoy, schoolboy turned Slytherin male whore, turned Death Eater, turned uncaring, ambitious, self-serving father."
His eyes grew angry, and his voice frigid. "You never complained."
A cruel smile found its way onto her face, "Why would I have wanted to? After all, you were my greatest achievement. I modeled you after myself. Glad to know that my training has taken great effect."
"But you don't like the result, do you?"
"Not at all. That was what I was, who I am now is a completely different story. But I am getting off track. You asked me why I believe Voldemort will fall. It is because there is one crucial point that could lead to his eventual defeat, here in this school, employed by Voldemort himself. And I have employed the most powerful of charms to ensure that she tilts in my favor."
"So you don't care about that crackpot Dumbledore or that traitor Snape?"
"Traitor? What does that make me, please?"
"You know what I mean."
"Indeed. And yes, I have tried to ensure that the two of them live through this, as well as that foolish boy Harry Potter who gets himself into innumerable scrapes. Now Lucius, I do believe it's time for you to leave."
"Funny, you were never interested in having me leave early."
"Funny perhaps, but the time you speak of was before you ever laid designs on your wife. Now go."
Lucius looked at her for a long moment. "Do you really believe that I might be on your side, my Angel?"
"Not for a moment." She replied coolly, "But I am willing to accept any true help you're willing to give. Which, in the long run I might add, might tilt everything in your favor should Voldemort fall." She let the coldness, the bitterness inside her heart steal into her eyes, making them appear more dark and stormy than the occasional typhoon that threatened the magical lake outside the school. "And believe me, I will make him fall."
The blond man nodded slowly, before sweeping out the door, his cloak swishing after him. She then proceeded to slump down into her chair, and, because she was naturally suspicious, did a magical sweeping of the room with her wand, checking for anything out of the ordinary that Lucius Malfoy might have set in motion. She could find none.
She did, however, catch the very faint scent of someone other than Lucius Malfoy who had been just outside her door. She was instantly flattened out against it, her vampire-enhanced senses straining to catch… something, anything, of who had been listening outside the door.
"Madam, if you would consent to open this door, I just might be able to talk to you!" She stiffened, recognizing the voice. Snape. Damn the man, why was he always there at the most inopportune of times? How much had he heard? Her words could be taken either way, and the man did not like her at all, did not trust her. He could tell of his suspicions of her to the Headmaster, who had enough clout left in the wizarding world to send her to Azkaban for life.
She ripped open the door with more force than was necessary, revealing the tall, stark figure of a very suspicious-looking Professor Snape. "What do you want?" she hissed, virtually unable to keep the rage out of her voice, and the crackling of power around her body. It rippled in a dark blue mist around her, giving her an aura of great power. He crossed his arms, and leaned back against the closed door to her office, clearly not impressed with the light show. "Lucius Malfoy was just seen exiting your office. I found grounds to inquire on why he would come to you."
She narrowed her eyes, "Were you listening from behind the door?"
Professor Snape gathered himself up, visibly affronted of having been accused of eavesdropping. Then he looked slightly abashed, "I might have if you were to slap me with the definition, yes." Then his entire demeanor was completely serious again. "But you still have not answered my questions."
"You never asked me one. You only implied." She replied, stonily, "And I refuse to be accused of treason by one such as you. For that is why you have come, is it not?"
"No actually, my intentions concerning my appearance outside you office were completely noble. I wished to inform you that the potion to be concocted for you that I have been working on seems to be coming along just fine. I wanted to thank you for your idea concerning adding your own blood to the potion, because that just might set us both in the record books for this, if it turns out the way it is supposed. So you see, I was not planning on overhearing a conversation between a fellow professor and a past schoolmate who has been proven (by myself I might add) to be a Death Eater talking about the Dark Lord, you might say I was interested to say the least."
"Ah, so I see your spying days are not yet over."
"They would not accept me back into the Order, and you knew that. They no longer trusted me."
"They are not a trusting band, I'll give you that. I did not expect you to live through that encounter however, when you attempted to rejoin them."
"Honestly, neither did I." It was at this point that Severus caught on to Angel's game. She was very slowly, leading him off the path of his questions, drawing him off the concrete road of fact, and into the uncertain paths of the abstract. That is, if you take abstract to be everything but.
She apparently noticed that he'd figured it out too, because she smiled, flashing just a few too many teeth for Severus to feel completely comfortable, and said, "He wanted to know why I joined up with Dumbledore. He's followed me and trusted in my instincts for too long, he was, for one of the first times I've ever known him, unsure of himself." She shook her head, "He was always one to look for power… I just led him down the darker path to it."
"And what did you tell him?"
"Weren't you listening?"
"Not so closely so that I can catch every word you two were saying… it is not exactly dignified for the Potions Master to have his ear pressed to the DADA teacher's door when students pass by."
"That would have been a sight now, wouldn't it?" she murmured thoughtfully eyeing him. He broke eye contact first. "Have you been dabbling the Dark Magicks?" he asked, as if it was completely off-topic, but completely concerning the topic at hand.
She glared at him, "I am a Dark Mage," she informed him haughtily, "Mages do not dabble!" she added this last with an indignant frown.
"You have not answered me."
"I have taken steps to assure that my existence here in this school goes completely unnoticed for the time being, and I have created security wards and protection spells, and several hexes to ensure the safety of myself as well as everyone else trustworthy in this school. If that is your idea of dabbling, then yes."
"You could be thrown in Azkaban for what you have just admitted to me."
She smiled grimly, "No I couldn't… because if I had wanted it, you would have had no recollection whatsoever of this conversation, or of the previous one I had with Mr. Malfoy. I have my ways, Professor Snape, and I have my spells. I allowed you to learn some of my secrets that I am using in order to keep us all safe."
"You're using Dark Magic to keep the school safe?" he asked, clearly disbelieving.
"There are plenty of spells that you don't know about, my dear Snape. And plenty more that I do know, that do not involve the sacrificial entrails of a virgin." She wrinkled her nose, "Goodness, that would be a waste, wouldn't it? And quite messy, I'm sure."
"Fine. I will inform the Headmaster of your wards, but rest assured that I will be watching you very closely. I do not trust you to be a… safe… person."
"I'm sure I have already assured you that I am not a safe person, and I never have been. Good day, Severus." She shut the door firmly in his face.
The nerve of that man!
~*~*~*~
When finally they managed to get Pansy to fall asleep, Hermione and Draco were once again seated in two of the couches in their shared common room, with two cups of steaming coffee a House Elf had brought to them. "Well?" asked Hermione finally, when they had sipped at their mugs for several long minutes. "What should we do?"
Draco shook his head slowly, allowing several of the longer pieces of hair on his forehead fall down into his face. "I really don't know… Pansy hasn't ever been one of my best of friends, but I've known her all my life. And I don't want to see her rotting with all that filth in Azkaban. But I don't know what else to do."
Tapping her fingers lightly on the warmed ceramic, she stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well we can't hide a fugitive from the Ministry of Magic in our dormitories… even on your worst days you wouldn't think of that."
"No I wouldn't… but where could she go?"
"She said she would tell the professors herself later. Should we hold her to her word?"
"I guess we'll have to…" but he didn't sound happy about that idea, as if watching one of his good friends being led to the gallows. Which was a strange thing because Pansy had never been one of his good friends. He didn't think he even had any good friends. They were for those who couldn't not stand alone. He had always considered himself better than that.
Putting down her mug, she leaned against the arm of the couch, sighing. "I suppose it would be all right to keep her here… for a little while."
He nodded, "That's all I can really ask for." He smiled wryly, "I don't think the Headmaster would think too well of me if I tried to bribe him, either."
"Nope."
There was another uncomfortable silence, in which both of them inspected every minute detail of the carpet. Again, it was Hermione that broke the stillness. "Um… I have homework… so…"
"Right… I'm… heading for the Slytherin common room… to inquire."
"You do that." She headed off towards her room, in which she quietly opened the door, so as not to disturb Pansy.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" Nagini burst into the common room through the portrait hole, her nostrils flared. Hermione turned around, confused. "Where is she?!" hissed the enraged girl, eyes glittering menacingly.
Hermione heard Pansy mewl in panic, and turned back quickly to see Pansy dive to the opposite side of the bed crouching behind the bed, shivering, eyes wide. Nagini was in the doorway in a minute. "How dare you!" she hissed. "I hate being made a mockery of! And that is exactly what you did, you wretched girl!"
"I—I…" stuttered Pansy, as she cowered behind Hermione's bed, "I—I couldn't—"
"I risked this entire school finding out my identity!" stormed Nagini, seeming not even to listen to Pansy's stuttering, "I risked every secret I hold in my to help you! And you make a fool out of me!" she lunged towards her, and both Draco and Hermione, with a speed they had never known, leapt on the girl, tackling her to the ground.
"NO! Calm down… it wasn't that bad!" cried Hermione at Nagini's elbow, holding her securely at the waist, though it was Draco who actually pinned her to the ground.
"NAGINI!" roared Draco, "We've got to get her to explain first! CALM DOWN!"
Nagini stopped moving, and took a few deep breaths. When she spoke again, her voice was hard, cold. "Get off me."
When Hermione tried to protest, she turned burning yellow eyes on the girl. She was half-transformed already. "I'm not going to hurt the rotten brat, so you will bloody well get off me or I'll make you."
Slowly, Hermione's hold on her loosened, and Pansy let out a whimper, cowering closer and closer to the opposite wall. Following her example, Draco let go, and Nagini got up clumsily to her feet. "You girl," she said in that same cruel voice where each word seemed to be shards of ice that was nothing like the old-fashioned, half-dreamy voice she usually used. "You are going to live… thanks to these two. But you know quite well that I am not burdened so with their morals. You cross me, ever, and I will be sure to make you pay."
Pansy, still shaking went down on her knees, her forehead touching the ground, in the international symbol of subservience, "I'm—I'm sorry… Th—Thank you…"
With of flurry of flying robes, Nagini stalked out of Hermione's room. From where they were, Nagini's door slamming shut was quite pronounced. Hermione immediately rushed to Pansy's side, helping her to stand—which turned out to be rather impossible—and then settled with having her sit back on the bed. Pansy was sobbing at this point, and Hermione gingerly handed her a handkerchief she swiped off her dresser. She looked up pleadingly at Draco, mouthing, follow her.
Draco hesitated for a moment, then nodded, and strode quickly after the raging lamia. Nagini was fuming. She had been treated like a fool, by one of the Dark Lord's gullible minions at that! It was an outrage, and she had a great sense of pride when connected to the Master.
Would she contact the Master to inform him of what she had done? Should she? The Master did not like to be bothered by useless trifles. Surely this Pansy girl would be of no danger to him? No, surely not.
She whirled when she heard Draco's steps behind her. "What?!" she hissed defensively, her arms crossed.
Draco raised an eyebrow, "You go on a raving rampage into Daisy's room, terrorize the girl who has deluded herself into thinking that she's my girlfriend, and still you ask me?"
Nagini turned away from him, "You would not understand."
Draco raised both his eyebrows, "Really? Well, let me tell you something. All my life at this school, hell, all my life before this year, I was considered a coward. I didn't admit it to myself, but hell, I was one, and acted like an idiot. Now Voldemort's coming—" he noticed her wince at the name, "—and I have to make a choice. My father wants me by his side. Not to spy, not to do anything but lay low. Well I'm tired of it, and I don't care about being on the winning side anymore. I'm with the school."
Nagini's eyes had gotten progressively wider and wider as she listened to him. "Who would have thought," she mused coolly, "that the son of Lucius Malfoy would actually choose the path of disgrace? What is Dumbledore if not a feeble old man incapable of telling who is and who is not a spy sent to his school? Who is the Dark Lord, the Master, if not the greatest sorcerer in the world, of whom all shudder at his name? Draco Malfoy, Betrayer of the Pure Blood."
"Nagini Whetlyn, Voldemort's little pet snake."
She whirled, eyes wide, "How did you—!" her eyes became angry. "Who told you of this?!" Her power echoed her turbulent emotions, and a ball of green fire exploded into being in her fist.
Draco shrugged, but she had already noticed his wand in his hand. "I'm Head Boy, I figured it out."
Nagini glared at him, killing the ball of flame in her hand, "You think you can betray my secret?" she asked coldly, "You think you can just go up to Dumbledore and tell him? He. Already. Knows." She laughed a harsh, grating sound in the back of her throat, "He knew I was here to kill Harry Potter, and he didn't do a thing to stop me. He believed I could be good," she drew the word out, making a mockery of it, "that I could join his cause. I was powerful and he knew it. I would be of help to him." she laughed again, "The fool… he thought I would choose to believe in Harry Potter rather than the Master. The Master gave me my power, why would I trade it all for a worthless little boy?"
"Worthless?" Harry's voice floated in from the doorway, startling both Draco and Nagini. Draco, confused, continued to stare wildly around him, while Nagini turned to her other senses to help her. Her nostrils flared, and his scent, a blurred, nearly untraceable scent, but distinctly his, drew her to the door. He was standing right behind Draco, cloaked in invisibility. "Let me see you, Harry Potter, I know you are there."
The air behind Draco shimmered in itself for a moment, before Harry appeared, eyes stony as he took off the cloak. "And here I was, sneaking through to talk to Hermione, and I find all hell has broken loose," his conversational tone contrasting his hardened eyes.
"I think you walked in at the wrong time, Potter."
Harry ignored him, walking into Nagini's room instead. "There's a lot that you don't know yet, Nagini." He told her seriously, "After all, how close to me do you think you've gotten? How close do you think Dumbledore has gotten to releasing your identity to the rest of the world? They all know now after all, and everyone's just jumping for a chance to catch someone having to do with Voldemort."
She winced reflexively, and he smiled humorlessly at her, "What, not even you dare to say his name?"
Nagini glared at him, eyes glowing with hidden green fire, "He is the Master. That is all I need to know him as."
Harry laughed again, still the same. Cold, hard. "The Master? The master who uses your shell as a form of entertainment? Or did you not realize that I knew, that I was there all those times he took you over to kill or to slaughter? Is that the kind of Master one worships?"
There wasn't really anything to say to that. But… "What do you mean you were there?" she asked weakly. All those things that she'd done… that he'd made her do… Harry had known it all along?
He glared at her, "I've known for years. All those dreams, always being tied to Voldemort, always knowing what he was doing… it's not something you look forward to when you go to sleep."
"When I came here… you knew it was me?"
"No. I thought you were just this girl crazy enough to transfer to Hogwarts with Voldemort still at large out there. But then everything fit together… and your name…" he shook his head, "I've her Voldemort say it so many times in my head, it's not something I can ever forget."
Draco, who had been forgotten up until this point suddenly spoke up, "Snape's coming. Get your ass under that cloak Potter or there'll be hell to pay if he finds you here."
This distracted Harry, who stared at him in surprise, "How did you—"
"Small warding spell on the portrait hole. Get moving. I don't need to explain Nagini crying" (for indeed tears were coming from her eyes, without her knowledge why) "and why you here."
Nagini watched him shoot her one last warning glare, and then he disappeared beneath his cloak.
"What's going on here?" demanded Professor Snape, taking in the scene in one quick glance. Nagini turned away from him so he couldn't see the sudden tears forming in her eyes, and to hide her confusion. "An argument about the Yule Ball… we're getting behind in planning it, and… well…" she shrugged, not looking at him.
"Nagini and I have… opposite views on the subject."
"I see." Snape said curtly, "Where is Miss Granger?"
Draco noticeably paled some. "She's… er… she's…"
"Right here, sir." Hermione, visibly rumpled had come up behind the professor, "Was there something you needed?"
"Yes. All three of you are to know that the Yule Ball has been cancelled."
Even Nagini had to turn around, tears gone from her eyes as the three of them stared at the tall professor. "Cancelled?" repeated Hermione, wide-eyed.
"Yes, Miss Granger. Cancelled. There is to be no Yule Ball, and the Triwizard Tournament has been called off. The Ministry has once again decided to take this school's affairs into its own hands." He eyed Draco and Nagini keenly, "I suppose this should end your… opposing views on the subject."
"Oh no sir… not by a long shot," Draco replied, never taking his eyes off Snape, but Nagini knew beyond any doubt at whom the words were meant for.
Snape realized this as well, and he turned his cold stare at the tall girl. "Well then… as it appears neither of you have any reason to speak straight with me, I will instead have a talk with Miss Granger." The girl he was referring to blinked, straightening up reflexively from her place against the wall. "Yes, sir?"
"Who is it that you're hiding in your room?"
For once, the intrepid Gryffindor was speechless. Then, "Why would you think such a thing, professor?"
He looked at her raising his eyebrows, "Why, the passive scanning wards placed in every single room and dormitory… don't tell me that not even you knew of those?" he waved it aside, "But that is besides the point. The point is there has been someone else in these chambers—two even if I'm not mistaken, and I want to know who they are."
She eyed Draco uneasily, obviously unable to figure out what to do. How Gryffindor of her… she had all her emotions written on her face for all to read. "Well, you see, sir…" she side-stepped into the room in between Draco and Nagini, always facing the professor as she did so, and while Nagini noticed the glint of gold in her hands first, Draco recognized it. She was just waiting for the perfect moment when he looked away.
Nagini looked at the two of them confused, before Hermione eyed her meaningfully unnoticed by Snape because her face was partially covered by her long curly hair. "Distract him," she mouthed, flicking her head back to face Snape.
Nagini blinked at the professor before she decided, just do it. If she was going to distract him, she would very well be theatric about it. It was not like she could do any worse than she had under the Confusion spell Pansy had thrown at her. She screamed, long, loud, and wildly, twin balls of flame exploded in both her hands, causing Snape to reflexively jump back from the girl. "They're coming for me!" she wailed, beginning to twitch and spasm violently, falling to the ground and tearing obscenely at her breast. "Get them off me!" she screamed, "Get them off, get them off!"
And because her eyes were still ablaze with green fire deep in the pupils, her words had an effect on the seasoned professor who had most likely already heard this type of distraction before. But his innate fear of any of You-Know-Who's creatures almost completely blinded him as to what she was really doing.
Hermione put the distraction to good use, dragging Draco along with the trip. After all, she thought wryly, it's not as if I know much about hiding a fugitive out to kill me in a safe place. I'm sure Slytherins do it all the time…
Flipping the Time-Turner back just after Draco had left to follow Nagini, they ran back to the room. The startled Hermione and Pansy inside stared at them for a minute before realization dawned on the girl's face. "What's happening?"
"We've got to get Pansy out," replied Draco swiftly as he held out a hand to Pansy. "Snape's going to appear any minute looking for her."
The girl stared up at them in minute horror, before Hermione grabbed her by the waist and hauled her up onto Draco's back. "You're carrying her," she told him firmly, "let's move." She turned back to the other Hermione still staring dumbfounded at them. "Now as soon as you hear Snape come in, go out there and give 'em all hell." She grinned at her double, before she and Draco rushed out of the room.
"Where the hell can we go?" she gasped as they both leaped out of the portrait and ran, "I think—Hogsmeade."
"What?!" she explained, nearly stopping in her tracks. "We do not have time to get her to Hogsmeade!"
"You don't… but she does."
Hermione turned to Pansy, "Can you make it there by yourself? You can go and hide in the Shrieking Shack—"
"Daisy are you crazy?! That place is haunted!"
"No it's not!" she shot back, "I have proof that it's not. Pansy, can you go there?"
The girl shuddered violently, but nodded. Hermione smiled grimly, "Good. I'll come by later to bring you stuff you'll need. And so will he," she jerked her thumb at Draco, "since he has access to the Slytherin common room." She took out her wand and tapped the old stone figure and muttered a word under her breath, before gesturing Pansy forward. "Follow the path from here and you'll soon come to the basement of Honeydukes. Go from there to the Shrieking Shack and stay there until either of us comes."
Draco tapped Hermione's shoulder, "We've got to go… time's almost up. I give Nagini only a minute more max than when we left to keep up the distraction."
"I know," she turned back to Pansy, before realizing she had already disappeared down the corridor. It was dimly lit, so there really was no need for a wand. She'll be fine, Hermione rationalized, as she and Draco sprinted back to their common room.
They entered just in time to hear Nagini's first shriek… plenty of time. They rushed back to their original positions behind Snape, just in time for him to see them when he glanced backwards, before they both raced towards their friend. "What's wrong?" demanded Hermione, grasping onto the girl's upper arms, shaking her.
"Roosters!" she screamed at them, which, under normal circumstances would have seemed rather amusing, if not completely absurd. However, considering her heritage, it made plenty of sense that she too would be frightened of the bird whose cry was fatal to the Great Serpent, as untrue as it proved to be in real life. "They're all around me, get them off, get them OFF!!!!" she shrieked.
When she opened her eyes, Hermione realized that her pupil had become a vertical slit, very much like a cat's or a snake's. She hesitated… how much was Nagini really faking?
"She was hit by a Confusion spell, sir," she told Snape. "Aren't one of the side effects hysteria?"
"Yes, I believe you are quite right." Snape's voice was cold. "Keep her here until she's talking sense again. And Miss Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor for harboring another student in your bedroom. Very suspicious-looking in a Head Girl." He had been looking through the open door of her room, and Hermione winced at the state of her usually neat bedroom when he raised his eyebrow at the mess. He then flourished his wand at the portrait hole, most likely testing those wards he had mentioned earlier, before he stalked out through the portrait. Nagini immediately stopped wailing. "That was by far, one of the most embarrassing things I have ever done."
"I don't know… that scene on the Knight Bus with Wormtail just might have topped it." Harry appeared again from beneath his Invisibility Cloak with a look of distaste on his face. "I do wish I wasn't inside your head sometimes."
Nagini grimaced, "Sniveling little rat," she muttered vehemently.
"I agree with you, but it didn't settle a thing over what we need to discuss."
She turned away from him, "There is nothing to discuss."
"Actually, Nagini, there is." Draco said, sitting down on one of the chairs. Although, 'sitting' was a milder term for 'lounging', which, certainly, was how he regularly sat. Hermione, undaunted, found a space right on the floor, seating herself comfortably cross-legged.
"Yeah Nagini. Pet Dark creature of Voldemort (here all but Harry winced visibly at the name) 's you may be, but there's still hope for you if Dumbledore let you into the school."
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Do you truly believe in Dumbledore that much?" She asked, watching the truth shine in the raven-haired boy's eyes, seeing the faith she usually saw reserved for money in the eyes of the Death Eaters she and the Master kept company with more often than not.
"I don't think you need Potter to answer that," replied Draco sardonically. "We all heard the story about how Potter believed in Dumbledore… enough so that a songbird swooped in to save his life and dropped a sword on his head."
"Always knew you were jealous, Malfoy."
Apparently the old animosity would never be completely buried, Hermione reflected. But then again, she'd never really expected it to. Ron, she could understand might never associate much with Draco without insulting him—that was just the way their relationship went. Same went with Harry's. But what about hers? What was it between her and Draco? Might one even call it *gulp* friendship?
She looked over at Draco quickly, who was still exchanging cold looks with everyone else in the room. Eck. He was too good-looking to be friends with. Wasn't that one of the cardinal rules of dating? Never date a guy prettier than you? And what was Draco Malfoy if not pretty?
All right, he was intelligent.
And witty when opportunity knocked.
And… oh hell.
"Hermione?" asked Harry anxiously when he realized she had not responded to Draco's saying her name for the third time in a row.
"Huh?"
"We were asking…" Draco told her significantly annunciating each word as if talking to a particularly dull child, "What you think we should do about Nagini's… uniqueness?"
"Should we ship her off to Hogsmeade too?" she asked sardonically, having been rudely torn from her thoughts, although at a most opportune moment.
"Hmm… no, I don't think she and Pansy could live with each other that long."
"This is getting nowhere!" snapped Nagini. "I don't have time for this. I have better things to be doing."
"Like what? Plotting to seduce Harry?"
She stopped short, and Hermione looked surprised at Nagini's reaction to her half-thought out guess, "Wow, you really were here to seduce Harry?"
"I was here to kill Harry. I should have thought that would have been obvious."
"You knew who I was?"
"Who doesn't?"
Harry shrugged, "I don't know… all everybody knows me for has always been this—" he pointed at his scar, "—otherwise, I can pass as anyone else." Draco snorted, which earned him a dirty look from Hermione. "Do be quiet, Draco."
"Whatever you say, Daisy."
Harry grimaced, holding out a hand as if shielding himself from them. "Please, I can barely handle the fact that you two are being civil to each other… don't go around calling each other pet names."
"Why, Potter? Jealous?"
"You wish," he replied offhandedly, but with a serious look in his bright green eyes. "Don't mess with me Malfoy. Otherwise I might think you are doing this on purpose to keep this discussion about what's going to happen to Whetlyn from finishing."
"Boys, boys, boys!" exclaimed Hermione, crossing her arms, "You," she said to Harry pointing imperiously towards the floor. "Sit. You," she added, pointing to Draco, "Shut up."
The two boys recognized the voice of authority. They sat, they were silent. Nagini marveled in silence.
"Now, I think the most important thing to discuss first is whether or not we can trust Nagini." She looked apologetic at the girl she had only a little while before wished to be friends with, and still did as a matter of fact. "We do share the same common room… and you have been the… right hand serpent of You-Know-Who…"
"I understand," Nagini replied coolly wondering to herself why she didn't simply kill both Draco and Hermione now and take Harry Potter away to her master immediately. When someone, anyone, had made this horrid twinge inside her, she had immediately killed. Why wasn't she doing the same now? The answer became obvious all of a sudden. She was changing. Shuddering at what would happen to her if the Master ever found out about this newly acquired weakness, she matched Hermione's calm gaze. "So, you know just how much power I hold in my fist," she allowed a ball of flame to burst into life in her hand for a moment to prove her point, "What do you propose to do to protect yourself from me?" The words were sarcastic, as if she believed such a thing was impossible.
"We were hoping to devise something that doesn't involve going to Professor Dumbledore," muttered Harry. "We don't… really want you to leave."
"Since when did you ever care?" she snapped at him, wanting him to be silent. "I never really tried to seduce you… you weren't anything like I expected you to be. If I acted like a total whore, I would've been just like Pansy and I could see at a glance you wouldn't fall for that act."
"No… I don't think Pansy's ever attracted much attention of that sort, even if she's the Whore of Slytherin."
Hermione looked scandalized, and Draco raised an eyebrow at her, "You mean you don't know about the side businesses some of our girls run? My, my, we are innocent…"
"Draco-baby," she told him, using the dreaded nickname Pansy had given him, "Just because I don't like saying it out loud, doesn't mean I don't know anything about it. I lived in the same dormitory with Parvati Patil for the past six years. Once you're helping her brush up on contraceptive charms, you know everything." She turned away from him shaking her head. "Slytherins."
Harry still looked confused, "You were trying to seduce me?" he asked, blinking.
Draco rolled his eyes. "God, if a troupe of half-naked Veela stole into your room in the middle of the night wanting to shag you, would you still ask that?"
Harry glared at him.
Nagini shook her head, "That approach wouldn't work with the Golden Boy," she replied, waving a hand, airily, "Especially after I learned that he was going out with Cho Chang. It was tricky, and I had a feeling you were too noble for me to seduce while I was still the 'other woman'. Nothing came of it…" she said, sitting back against her bed. Then she admitted something to them that she'd never thought she would ever say. "The Lord Voldemort… he is coming here."
They stared at her. "What?!" Draco yelled, voicing all of their thoughts at once.
"He will know that I have failed to do what I was supposed to have done on time. He will come to deal with Harry Potter himself." She looked away. "He will kill me." she looked up at Harry. "You say yourself you have seen what I have seen," she told him, "Do you not know how much power the Master holds over me? Do you think I can disobey him?"
He was silent for a moment. Then… "Yes."
She stared at him. "How many times a fool must you be not to understand?" she yelled at him, green eyes snapping, but she did not cry. She didn't allow herself to cry. "Do you expect me to be changed by your influences? Do you expect me to turn my back on the Master who I have served faithfully for as long as he has lived? Do you expect me to join you?"
He shook his head, "I don't think I can answer that," he told her simply. "Because you would have to know the answer first. And I don't think you do." He stood up. "I'm going back to bed, Hermione," he said, addressing his friend. "You three can sort things out or leave it till morning. But I think," he added looking back at Nagini with his bright green eyes, "That Whetlyn here won't be able to do anything because Hermione is going to set Crookshanks here to watch her. Crookshanks is friendly with her, I've seen the two of them together before, but he's always going to be your cat Hermione. Put him here to watch her." he walked out.
Nagini raised an eyebrow. "You can," she told Hermione. "I'm not going anywhere. There is nowhere I can hide from the Master when he comes… and I have to stay or else not even I will have a chance to get to Harry Potter."
Hermione looked grim, but she nodded, getting up. "I don't like the idea." She said slowly, "And I don't know if I can trust you not to hurt Crookshanks. But I'm going to listen to Harry on this one. He didn't survive seventeen years of dealing with Voldemort because he was an idiot." She gestured at Draco, "You too, Draco."
"Are you sure—"
"Draco."
"Right." He got up from the chair and walked out the doorway. Hermione nodded cordially to Nagini and didn't look down when Crookshanks sauntered in. "Good night, Nagini." She closed the door firmly, and, just because she needed to be extra sure, she cast a slight warding spell over the door. No one could get in or out of that room without her knowing it.
Draco was waiting for her in their common room. "Well…?" he asked finally, breaking the silence, "Now what?"
She sighed, "Sleep with your under your pillow tonight, Draco. And… I would stay dressed if I were you." She disappeared into her own room.
He groaned, slumping bonelessly into a chair. "What the hell is wrong with me?" he wondered to himself. "How the heck did I ever say I was on Dumbledore's side?" he sounded disgusted with himself. How the heck could I have faced Hermione if I didn't?
He groaned again. Oh no… it had gotten to this point. He was actually starting to care what she thought about what he was going to do. He was Draco Malfoy. He was not supposed to fall in love.
"What're the chances I have of actually working things out with Granger?" he muttered to himself.
"About the same odds as getting a Royal Flush."
He jumped up, before he realized it was only one of the paintings on the wall. The wizard in there, a jovial card-wielding joker, grinned back at him. "Come on boy, it can happen. But it's not probable… not with what's going to happen around here."
He looked back at Nagini's door, and faintly heard Crookshanks meow. "Well you're right about one thing," he said to the painting, "Something is going to happen around here." And I'm not too sure if I'm going to live to see it through… not if my dad's thinking of presenting me to Him now that he wants to come and get Harry himself… He shuddered, pulling up the sleeve of his robes, and staring at the mark on his arm. It wasn't the Dark Mark, he certainly wasn't a Death Eater just yet. But it was like Nagini's mark, serpentine, and a symbol of just how closely tied to the Dark Lord he was.
"I guess Daisy probably is more than I can hope for…" he murmured to himself. "After all… what're the odds?"
~*~*~*~
End of chapter.
Yes, Draco, what are the odds? So… what do you guys think? Should there be more Draco/Hermione before the ending (which I assume will be coming in about a couple more chapters) or should I bring Pansy back into the fold? Choice is yours people.
