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.
~Ravenclaw@Heart~: Thank you, I fixed that Lucas thing as soon as I got your review notification.
dragonsprincess: Yes, I fixed the mistake. And I was proud of Draco's reaction, there - thank you for noticing it.
Akuma-sama: Oh, the plot-bunnies for OotP are already better formed than those for GoF ... I know what I'm doing *evil cackle ... cough cough* anyway ... yes, you're right, but I'm not going AU (well, maybe Anti-Umbridge - did anyone notice that in the OotP? One of the suggested names for the DA was the Anti-Umbridge League).
dstrbd child: The pennames of good Slyth fic writers are: Amberdulen (The Serpent's Society), J. L. Matthew (Slytherin Rising), and if you like comedy/Slyth!Harry there's Akuma-sama (The Snake Who Lived). There are more, but those are the best three (and the three I remember right now).
lil_angelgirl000: Yes I am updating ... witness my updating ... I'm just taking as long as it takes me to edit the story.
I had to work out how to do this, because the Gryffindors finished off their Boggart, and Lupin clearly told the Gryffs that the Boggart they faced moved in "yesterday afternoon" and Draco would have been in the Hospital Wing for the day before Harry's first DADA class. So I worked out this way of getting around that and still teaching the Slyths about Boggarts - I had to show everyone's greatest fears - it's pivotal to aspects of the plot.
Chapter 4 - Fear
Defence Against the Dark Arts followed the Muggle Studies lesson. The entire Slytherin third year were eagerly awaiting this, to find out more about who would be teaching us, and what horrible things Theo and I had planned for him. We were kind of infamous as the cause of trouble in any Defence class.
"Good morning, class." Lupin said, waiting for a response, but no one said anything, so he continued regardless, "Today's lesson will be a practical one."
"Oh, no!" Theo said loudly, "Lockhart did that to the Gryffindors last year!"
Lupin smiled, "I assure you, I am not on a level with the great incompetence that is Lockhart." he said. Theo snorted with laughter, in response to that. I smirked - maybe he wasn't so bad after all. "I do know what I'm doing. Now, if you would all gather around at the front of the classroom." he said, gesturing towards his desk. Nervously, we all stood up and walked over to crowd around the desk. Something rattled in the largest bottom drawer behind said desk.
"What's that?" I asked, eyeing the drawer suspiciously.
Lupin seemed completely unperturbed by the answer he gave us, "It's a Boggart."
A couple of the girls backed away and Theo's eyes lit up with interest. "Oh so cool!" Theo said.
Lupin gave the insane boy an odd look that said he recognised the fact that he was insane, before continuing, "I assume you all know what a Boggart is?" he asked. Everyone in the class nodded. "Do any of you know how to get rid of one?" I didn't, and by the looks of them, neither did anyone else, but we were all too proud to admit it - only Cat so much as shook her head. Lupin smiled at this, but then said, "Well, that's what I'm going to teach you today. Who can tell me what a Boggart looks like?" There were a few confused looks exchanged, before I raised my hand. "Mr Malfoy?"
"It looks like whatever the person nearest it fears the most." I said.
"Correct - five points for Slytherin." he said smiling. I smirked, proud to achieve my first house-points of the year. Lupin then continued, "Now, has anyone here met one of these creatures before - not you Cat." Cat looked a little miffed at that, and folded her arms across her chest in a huff. Only Milli and I raised our hands for that one. Lupin pointed to Milli, "Miss Bullstrode - tell me, how it was dealt with?"
"I was only five. My mom shooed me out of the room, and when I came back in it was gone." she said, shrugging.
Lupin turned to me, with the expression that says he wants me to answer the same question, "I was nine. Father cast some sort of spell at it - I can't remember what, but it turned the Boggart into something that made me laugh ... then it just vanished in a puff of smoke." I said, remembering the incident - the Boggart had been a werewolf, then - have I ever told you that I'm terrified of werewolves?
Lupin nodded, "And what would you say you were most afraid of, in the world, Mr Malfoy?"
I thought about it for a moment - werewolves were one thought, but I'd grown up since the last time I saw one of those things, and I was more afraid of Lord Snake-Bastard now, "Do I have to answer that?" I asked.
"If you don't tell me now, I will find out when you have to face the Boggart." he replied calmly.
I blanched, "I don't have to face it in front of the whole class?" I asked, terrified.
"Yes, you do - you all do." he added, glancing at the rest of the class. On receiving only silence for that, he continued, "The key to defeating a Boggart is laughter - the charm to help with this is 'Riddikulus'. Everyone say it with me -"
"Riddikulus." the whole class said together.
The drawer rattled a little more violently. "Now." Lupin said cheerfully, "Mr Malfoy, since you have the most experience with this." he was smirking as he said that - does he have something against me or is he trying to favour me? It's not easy to tell. "You can go first." I rolled my eyes, not particularly wanting to do this, but I took out my wand and stepped forward, around the desk. "Before I release it, I want you all to think of your worst fear and a way in which you might make it funny. When one of you succeeds in casting the spell, you will restrain yourselves from laughing at it and the next person will step forward. Is that understood?" we all nodded. After a few minutes, Lupin asked, "Are you all ready." he was met with a series of silent nods, then he tapped the lock on the drawer with his wand and stepped back.
What appeared in front of the drawer was, unfortunately, exactly what I'd expected, but I had no idea how to make it look funny. The tall figure in dark robes, with chalk-white skin, long spider-like fingers, a flat nose and red eyes, advanced slowly towards me - the Dark Lord. Pansy shrieked. I backed away fearfully - I couldn't think of anything funny about this.
As I backed into the wall behind me, the cold and unfortunately familiar voice spoke from the Boggart, "It was you. I warned you, if I ever found out you would pay."
My eyes widened for a second before I slid down the wall, covering my face, defensively.
"Bullstrode - step forward." Lupin said, sounding a little frightened, himself.
I heard Milli's footsteps and looked up to see what looked a lot like a Lethifold, moving towards Milli - she pointed her wand at it and shouted, "Riddikulus!" and the living cloak turned from black to multicoloured, at which she began to grin.
I scrambled quickly away from the Boggart as Lupin called up each student in turn.
Goyle's Boggart turned into a human-sized piece of broccoli, which he eventually managed to turn into an equally large ice-cream-cone. Crabbe ran forward, intent on this ice-cream, but when he got within range, it became a swarm of killer-Brussels-sprouts. He managed to turn it into rather bloodily mutilated and dead killer-Brussels-sprouts (Brussels sprouts bleeding all over the floor is surprisingly funny).
Pansy was afraid of the clown that had been at my seventh birthday party. She had him choking on his fake nose.
Blaise's greatest fear appeared to be a vampire, which she de-fanged.
When it came to Cat's turn, however, the Boggart took the form of Sirius Black (I recognised him from pictures I had seen in the papers) who approached her, reaching out to her in apparent desperation, "Help me, Cat. Please - they're after me - you have to help me."
She backed away a few steps, but quickly came to her senses and cast the spell. Black turned into what looked like a large black dog rolling on its back asking for its tummy to be rubbed ... why she had connected that to Black, I don't know or care, but it was funny. Lupin seemed to suddenly turn very pale, on seeing this.
Theo was last. He stepped forward, giving Cat a curious look, as if asking 'what the hell?', and the Boggart transformed into a tall, cloaked figure, wearing a mask - one of Them ... a Death Eater. After a moment of confusion, in which Theo seemed not to understand why the Boggart had turned into what it had - he didn't look scared, either - the Boggart removed its mask to reveal Theo's own face. Theo blinked, "This is my greatest fear in the whole world?" he asked, "Bloody hell!" he then pointed at the Boggart version of himself, "You stupid git - sucks to be you." and he started laughing at it without needing to even cast the charm.
The Boggart seemed pretty horrified for the few seconds before it went up in smoke.
Lupin was not best pleased, "I told you to restrain yourself from laughing, Mr Nott." he said, sounding calm even though he was pissed off - he also seemed a little shocked, as he asked, "And how did you find it funny, without casting the charm on it?"
Theo looked at me, but I shrugged, staying well out of it, so he turned back to face the teacher and said, "I just find it funny that I'm afraid of something so ... ridiculous." he said, grinning.
"You were laughing at yourself?" Lupin asked. Theo nodded. "You are able to laugh at your worst fear?" another nod. "What kind of crazy-person are you?"
"The good kind?" Theo asked hopefully.
Lupin smiled, shaking his head, "Whatever." he said sighing, "Five points to everyone who successfully cast the charm at the Boggart ... now I need to find a new one for the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor classes ... this morning's Hufflepuff class at least know how to follow instructions." he said glaring at Theo. "Mr Malfoy, I want to talk to you, after class ... Cat - you too. The rest of you can go now - class dismissed."
There was a rush for the door, which Cat and I declined from joining in.
When the room was empty aside from Cat, Lupin and I, Lupin spoke, "Mr Malfoy - why were you unable to cast the charm?"
"I couldn't think of any way to make Him funny, sir." I answered honestly.
"I see what you mean ... try women's underwear, next time - it seemed to work well for the Hufflepuff who was afraid of Gilderoy Lockhart." he said, with a smile. I smirked at the mental picture, (though why anyone would be that scared of Lockhart is beyond me, but this is a Hufflepuff we're talking about, isn't it) and nodded. "Although, I wonder why you would be afraid of Him, more than anything else?" he asked.
"Why?" I inquired. Better to know exactly the answer someone is looking for, before giving one that may be incriminating, for no good reason.
"To put it bluntly, Malfoy - your family is known to be the type not to need to fear Him." Lupin answered.
"Nicely put." I muttered, before answering, "Even His most loyal servants would fear Him, sir, so what makes you think I wouldn't?"
Lupin nodded, accepting my answer, "Fine - you can go, now, Malfoy."
And so I grabbed my bag and left. I stopped outside the door, to wait for Cat. It's not my fault that I overheard the following conversation, but even if I had felt like spying, I would have thought they'd have been discussing something to do with her schoolwork - not what they ended up really talking about.
"Cat - I wonder - why would the Boggart take that form, for you? I didn't think you were afraid of him."
"I - I'm not afraid of him, as such ... I'm afraid that he'll want me to help him, when I know I can't."
"And why did you choose that form to force the Boggart to turn into? How did you connect it to him?" his voice sounded tense, maybe even nervous.
"I don't know. It just seemed right ... and funny." she said with amusement still in her voice.
"I see." his relief was audible, "So you're not going to try to help him, if he asked you?"
"No." she sounded very adamant about that, "Why would I want to help the madman he's turned into? They say he's out to get Harry Potter - he wants to kill his own godson - what kind of monster does that?"
"You know if you met me at the wrong time ..." he said, trailing off as if not wanting to say something he knew she knew anyway.
"That's different, and you know it." she snapped, "That's not exactly your fault. And on that subject, how DID you get the job here?"
"I was the only one who applied ... and it did take a lot of persuasion from Dumbledore."
"Persuading who?"
"The Ministry ... the Governors ... Severus -"
"Snape? Why does he hate you?" she asked - it seemed obvious to me that it was a question she had been wanting to ask for some time and had just remembered it at the right moment.
"He didn't always hate me - we were friends at one point ... he just decided to hate me because I started hanging around with your father. He was one of the few people who didn't detest what I was ... only who I chose to socialise with." I could almost hear the smirk.
"Nice of him. How are you dealing with it ... I mean, there's three weeks left and then what?"
Three weeks until what? I was totally intrigued ... what was he that - oh crap - three weeks time was the full moon (I like my astronomy classes enough to know this) ... and that thing that he'd said about if she met him at the wrong time, right after she'd talked about Black wanting to kill his own godson ... I've already made the leap of logic that puts Lupin as Cat's godfather - she mentioned him before ... please tell me he's not a - ... I'm not going to say it until I know for sure.
"Severus is helping me with that."
"Oh - he must be pissed off at that, mustn't he?"
"Very much so, I think." again, I could hear the smirk in his voice.
"So what's happening to your classes after the full moons?" meep - that was almost confirmation, wasn't it?
"The first two are on weekends, but after that, Severus will be substituting for me."
"Again, he can't be too happy about that."
"Actually, he's thrilled - he's always wanted to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Right."
"You'd better go, now, Cat - you don't want to be late for lunch, do you?"
"No ... I'll see you later, then?"
"Get going."
And with that, Cat emerged from the room, and froze on seeing me. She started walking, and I followed. As soon as we were a few corridors away from the classroom, she asked me, "How much did you hear?"
"The part about him being off sick for full moons." I replied instantly.
"Oh."
"Is he a ...?"
"Werewolf - yes." she answered, "and you won't tell anyone, or else I tell all your secrets."
"You would, too." I said, smiling weakly, "Have I ever said that I'm terrified of werewolves?"
"No - you never said that ... you do know he's harmless most of the time?"
"It's the full moon I'm worried about." I noted.
"He'll be fine." Cat said, sighing at my obvious paranoid fear - I wasn't worried about him, I was worried about me. "He's getting Snape to make a potion for him ... I think it's called Wolfsbane - it's new, but it works - tames the wolf, so he'll not be a threat." then, in her most condescending tone, she added, "You're safe, Draco - the big scary werewolves aren't going to get you."
I gave her a scowl for that, "Thanks for the reassurance." I said in a cold tone.
I always manage to find something against the DADA teacher ... what is it with that subject, anyway? Am I just destined to hate it? ... the answer you're looking for there is 'yes'.
* * *
End of chapter 4
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.
~Ravenclaw@Heart~: Thank you, I fixed that Lucas thing as soon as I got your review notification.
dragonsprincess: Yes, I fixed the mistake. And I was proud of Draco's reaction, there - thank you for noticing it.
Akuma-sama: Oh, the plot-bunnies for OotP are already better formed than those for GoF ... I know what I'm doing *evil cackle ... cough cough* anyway ... yes, you're right, but I'm not going AU (well, maybe Anti-Umbridge - did anyone notice that in the OotP? One of the suggested names for the DA was the Anti-Umbridge League).
dstrbd child: The pennames of good Slyth fic writers are: Amberdulen (The Serpent's Society), J. L. Matthew (Slytherin Rising), and if you like comedy/Slyth!Harry there's Akuma-sama (The Snake Who Lived). There are more, but those are the best three (and the three I remember right now).
lil_angelgirl000: Yes I am updating ... witness my updating ... I'm just taking as long as it takes me to edit the story.
I had to work out how to do this, because the Gryffindors finished off their Boggart, and Lupin clearly told the Gryffs that the Boggart they faced moved in "yesterday afternoon" and Draco would have been in the Hospital Wing for the day before Harry's first DADA class. So I worked out this way of getting around that and still teaching the Slyths about Boggarts - I had to show everyone's greatest fears - it's pivotal to aspects of the plot.
Chapter 4 - Fear
Defence Against the Dark Arts followed the Muggle Studies lesson. The entire Slytherin third year were eagerly awaiting this, to find out more about who would be teaching us, and what horrible things Theo and I had planned for him. We were kind of infamous as the cause of trouble in any Defence class.
"Good morning, class." Lupin said, waiting for a response, but no one said anything, so he continued regardless, "Today's lesson will be a practical one."
"Oh, no!" Theo said loudly, "Lockhart did that to the Gryffindors last year!"
Lupin smiled, "I assure you, I am not on a level with the great incompetence that is Lockhart." he said. Theo snorted with laughter, in response to that. I smirked - maybe he wasn't so bad after all. "I do know what I'm doing. Now, if you would all gather around at the front of the classroom." he said, gesturing towards his desk. Nervously, we all stood up and walked over to crowd around the desk. Something rattled in the largest bottom drawer behind said desk.
"What's that?" I asked, eyeing the drawer suspiciously.
Lupin seemed completely unperturbed by the answer he gave us, "It's a Boggart."
A couple of the girls backed away and Theo's eyes lit up with interest. "Oh so cool!" Theo said.
Lupin gave the insane boy an odd look that said he recognised the fact that he was insane, before continuing, "I assume you all know what a Boggart is?" he asked. Everyone in the class nodded. "Do any of you know how to get rid of one?" I didn't, and by the looks of them, neither did anyone else, but we were all too proud to admit it - only Cat so much as shook her head. Lupin smiled at this, but then said, "Well, that's what I'm going to teach you today. Who can tell me what a Boggart looks like?" There were a few confused looks exchanged, before I raised my hand. "Mr Malfoy?"
"It looks like whatever the person nearest it fears the most." I said.
"Correct - five points for Slytherin." he said smiling. I smirked, proud to achieve my first house-points of the year. Lupin then continued, "Now, has anyone here met one of these creatures before - not you Cat." Cat looked a little miffed at that, and folded her arms across her chest in a huff. Only Milli and I raised our hands for that one. Lupin pointed to Milli, "Miss Bullstrode - tell me, how it was dealt with?"
"I was only five. My mom shooed me out of the room, and when I came back in it was gone." she said, shrugging.
Lupin turned to me, with the expression that says he wants me to answer the same question, "I was nine. Father cast some sort of spell at it - I can't remember what, but it turned the Boggart into something that made me laugh ... then it just vanished in a puff of smoke." I said, remembering the incident - the Boggart had been a werewolf, then - have I ever told you that I'm terrified of werewolves?
Lupin nodded, "And what would you say you were most afraid of, in the world, Mr Malfoy?"
I thought about it for a moment - werewolves were one thought, but I'd grown up since the last time I saw one of those things, and I was more afraid of Lord Snake-Bastard now, "Do I have to answer that?" I asked.
"If you don't tell me now, I will find out when you have to face the Boggart." he replied calmly.
I blanched, "I don't have to face it in front of the whole class?" I asked, terrified.
"Yes, you do - you all do." he added, glancing at the rest of the class. On receiving only silence for that, he continued, "The key to defeating a Boggart is laughter - the charm to help with this is 'Riddikulus'. Everyone say it with me -"
"Riddikulus." the whole class said together.
The drawer rattled a little more violently. "Now." Lupin said cheerfully, "Mr Malfoy, since you have the most experience with this." he was smirking as he said that - does he have something against me or is he trying to favour me? It's not easy to tell. "You can go first." I rolled my eyes, not particularly wanting to do this, but I took out my wand and stepped forward, around the desk. "Before I release it, I want you all to think of your worst fear and a way in which you might make it funny. When one of you succeeds in casting the spell, you will restrain yourselves from laughing at it and the next person will step forward. Is that understood?" we all nodded. After a few minutes, Lupin asked, "Are you all ready." he was met with a series of silent nods, then he tapped the lock on the drawer with his wand and stepped back.
What appeared in front of the drawer was, unfortunately, exactly what I'd expected, but I had no idea how to make it look funny. The tall figure in dark robes, with chalk-white skin, long spider-like fingers, a flat nose and red eyes, advanced slowly towards me - the Dark Lord. Pansy shrieked. I backed away fearfully - I couldn't think of anything funny about this.
As I backed into the wall behind me, the cold and unfortunately familiar voice spoke from the Boggart, "It was you. I warned you, if I ever found out you would pay."
My eyes widened for a second before I slid down the wall, covering my face, defensively.
"Bullstrode - step forward." Lupin said, sounding a little frightened, himself.
I heard Milli's footsteps and looked up to see what looked a lot like a Lethifold, moving towards Milli - she pointed her wand at it and shouted, "Riddikulus!" and the living cloak turned from black to multicoloured, at which she began to grin.
I scrambled quickly away from the Boggart as Lupin called up each student in turn.
Goyle's Boggart turned into a human-sized piece of broccoli, which he eventually managed to turn into an equally large ice-cream-cone. Crabbe ran forward, intent on this ice-cream, but when he got within range, it became a swarm of killer-Brussels-sprouts. He managed to turn it into rather bloodily mutilated and dead killer-Brussels-sprouts (Brussels sprouts bleeding all over the floor is surprisingly funny).
Pansy was afraid of the clown that had been at my seventh birthday party. She had him choking on his fake nose.
Blaise's greatest fear appeared to be a vampire, which she de-fanged.
When it came to Cat's turn, however, the Boggart took the form of Sirius Black (I recognised him from pictures I had seen in the papers) who approached her, reaching out to her in apparent desperation, "Help me, Cat. Please - they're after me - you have to help me."
She backed away a few steps, but quickly came to her senses and cast the spell. Black turned into what looked like a large black dog rolling on its back asking for its tummy to be rubbed ... why she had connected that to Black, I don't know or care, but it was funny. Lupin seemed to suddenly turn very pale, on seeing this.
Theo was last. He stepped forward, giving Cat a curious look, as if asking 'what the hell?', and the Boggart transformed into a tall, cloaked figure, wearing a mask - one of Them ... a Death Eater. After a moment of confusion, in which Theo seemed not to understand why the Boggart had turned into what it had - he didn't look scared, either - the Boggart removed its mask to reveal Theo's own face. Theo blinked, "This is my greatest fear in the whole world?" he asked, "Bloody hell!" he then pointed at the Boggart version of himself, "You stupid git - sucks to be you." and he started laughing at it without needing to even cast the charm.
The Boggart seemed pretty horrified for the few seconds before it went up in smoke.
Lupin was not best pleased, "I told you to restrain yourself from laughing, Mr Nott." he said, sounding calm even though he was pissed off - he also seemed a little shocked, as he asked, "And how did you find it funny, without casting the charm on it?"
Theo looked at me, but I shrugged, staying well out of it, so he turned back to face the teacher and said, "I just find it funny that I'm afraid of something so ... ridiculous." he said, grinning.
"You were laughing at yourself?" Lupin asked. Theo nodded. "You are able to laugh at your worst fear?" another nod. "What kind of crazy-person are you?"
"The good kind?" Theo asked hopefully.
Lupin smiled, shaking his head, "Whatever." he said sighing, "Five points to everyone who successfully cast the charm at the Boggart ... now I need to find a new one for the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor classes ... this morning's Hufflepuff class at least know how to follow instructions." he said glaring at Theo. "Mr Malfoy, I want to talk to you, after class ... Cat - you too. The rest of you can go now - class dismissed."
There was a rush for the door, which Cat and I declined from joining in.
When the room was empty aside from Cat, Lupin and I, Lupin spoke, "Mr Malfoy - why were you unable to cast the charm?"
"I couldn't think of any way to make Him funny, sir." I answered honestly.
"I see what you mean ... try women's underwear, next time - it seemed to work well for the Hufflepuff who was afraid of Gilderoy Lockhart." he said, with a smile. I smirked at the mental picture, (though why anyone would be that scared of Lockhart is beyond me, but this is a Hufflepuff we're talking about, isn't it) and nodded. "Although, I wonder why you would be afraid of Him, more than anything else?" he asked.
"Why?" I inquired. Better to know exactly the answer someone is looking for, before giving one that may be incriminating, for no good reason.
"To put it bluntly, Malfoy - your family is known to be the type not to need to fear Him." Lupin answered.
"Nicely put." I muttered, before answering, "Even His most loyal servants would fear Him, sir, so what makes you think I wouldn't?"
Lupin nodded, accepting my answer, "Fine - you can go, now, Malfoy."
And so I grabbed my bag and left. I stopped outside the door, to wait for Cat. It's not my fault that I overheard the following conversation, but even if I had felt like spying, I would have thought they'd have been discussing something to do with her schoolwork - not what they ended up really talking about.
"Cat - I wonder - why would the Boggart take that form, for you? I didn't think you were afraid of him."
"I - I'm not afraid of him, as such ... I'm afraid that he'll want me to help him, when I know I can't."
"And why did you choose that form to force the Boggart to turn into? How did you connect it to him?" his voice sounded tense, maybe even nervous.
"I don't know. It just seemed right ... and funny." she said with amusement still in her voice.
"I see." his relief was audible, "So you're not going to try to help him, if he asked you?"
"No." she sounded very adamant about that, "Why would I want to help the madman he's turned into? They say he's out to get Harry Potter - he wants to kill his own godson - what kind of monster does that?"
"You know if you met me at the wrong time ..." he said, trailing off as if not wanting to say something he knew she knew anyway.
"That's different, and you know it." she snapped, "That's not exactly your fault. And on that subject, how DID you get the job here?"
"I was the only one who applied ... and it did take a lot of persuasion from Dumbledore."
"Persuading who?"
"The Ministry ... the Governors ... Severus -"
"Snape? Why does he hate you?" she asked - it seemed obvious to me that it was a question she had been wanting to ask for some time and had just remembered it at the right moment.
"He didn't always hate me - we were friends at one point ... he just decided to hate me because I started hanging around with your father. He was one of the few people who didn't detest what I was ... only who I chose to socialise with." I could almost hear the smirk.
"Nice of him. How are you dealing with it ... I mean, there's three weeks left and then what?"
Three weeks until what? I was totally intrigued ... what was he that - oh crap - three weeks time was the full moon (I like my astronomy classes enough to know this) ... and that thing that he'd said about if she met him at the wrong time, right after she'd talked about Black wanting to kill his own godson ... I've already made the leap of logic that puts Lupin as Cat's godfather - she mentioned him before ... please tell me he's not a - ... I'm not going to say it until I know for sure.
"Severus is helping me with that."
"Oh - he must be pissed off at that, mustn't he?"
"Very much so, I think." again, I could hear the smirk in his voice.
"So what's happening to your classes after the full moons?" meep - that was almost confirmation, wasn't it?
"The first two are on weekends, but after that, Severus will be substituting for me."
"Again, he can't be too happy about that."
"Actually, he's thrilled - he's always wanted to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Right."
"You'd better go, now, Cat - you don't want to be late for lunch, do you?"
"No ... I'll see you later, then?"
"Get going."
And with that, Cat emerged from the room, and froze on seeing me. She started walking, and I followed. As soon as we were a few corridors away from the classroom, she asked me, "How much did you hear?"
"The part about him being off sick for full moons." I replied instantly.
"Oh."
"Is he a ...?"
"Werewolf - yes." she answered, "and you won't tell anyone, or else I tell all your secrets."
"You would, too." I said, smiling weakly, "Have I ever said that I'm terrified of werewolves?"
"No - you never said that ... you do know he's harmless most of the time?"
"It's the full moon I'm worried about." I noted.
"He'll be fine." Cat said, sighing at my obvious paranoid fear - I wasn't worried about him, I was worried about me. "He's getting Snape to make a potion for him ... I think it's called Wolfsbane - it's new, but it works - tames the wolf, so he'll not be a threat." then, in her most condescending tone, she added, "You're safe, Draco - the big scary werewolves aren't going to get you."
I gave her a scowl for that, "Thanks for the reassurance." I said in a cold tone.
I always manage to find something against the DADA teacher ... what is it with that subject, anyway? Am I just destined to hate it? ... the answer you're looking for there is 'yes'.
* * *
End of chapter 4