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.
Ice Angel: I'm going as fast as I can, honest! And thanks for telling me about the slip-up, I fixed it as soon as you told me.
Caz Malfoy: Ok. You know, that was one of the harder scenes to write, because I had to palm the blame off on someone other than Draco.
Logan: Why d'you feel stupid? You can't make an idiot of yourself in front of my ... I'm a better idiot than anyone!
angelkas: Um, I uploaded that chapter on a Monday. And this is Tursday, so assuming you read it today, this day won't suck too badly, will it? Hmm ... I don't know how the Daft Duo have got away without being diagnosed with a mental disorder, to be honest. Flint is part-troll - it implied so in PS/SS, in the real books "Harry thought Flint looked as if he had some troll blood in him" - so that's why he's so stupid (although still not as bad as Daft and Dafter). And the name McGonnaflip was "borrowed" (stolen, with permission) from Akuma-sama's The Snake Who Lived. Errors? Where?
dragonsprincess: Draco's detention is in this chapter. It was I who shifted the blame onto Flint - I figured the oldest student in the group causing the trouble should be genuinely to blame ... and I don't like Flint much, anyway ^_^. And Black's in this chapter, too ... and yes, Draco and Cat are second cousins ... Sirius and Narcissa are first cousins, so yeah.
fcuking cathy: Thank you.
Exactly what that detention implied ... can we say it again: awwwwwww, poor ickle Dwaco.
Chapter 15 - Detention, Take Two
You are going to laugh at me when I tell you this ... my detention was outdoors again. With Hagrid ... again.
"You want me to WHAT?!?" I asked.
"Yeh heard me. Yeh're ter clear out Buckbeak's pen. Don' worry - he's tied up on the far fence - yeh're not ter go near 'im." the gamekeeper replied.
I eyed the Hippogriff nervously. It was watching me evilly.
"But-" I started to protest, but I was interrupted.
"Would yeh rather go into the Forest again?" Hagrid asked. I immediately shook my head. "Then yeh'll be clearin' out Buckbeak's pen." he repeated. Damn.
It was hard work - Buckbeak may not be a small creature, but I was surprised at the amount of crap he seemed to have produced. And to add to that, the creature himself was staring at me the whole time, like he thought I belonged with the pile of dead ferrets he was currently mutilating with his beak. I shuddered as I thought that, returning to the task at hand - as soon as I finished this, I could go - it wasn't as bad as searching the Forbidden Forest for evil homicidal maniacs ... which Hagrid could quite easily have made me do, considering who was running around the castle grounds somewhere.
I didn't know why they bothered getting me to do this now - the Hippogriff was as good as dead - why not wait till after its execution to clean out its pen?
When I had finished, I looked around, seeing Hagrid had disappeared ... that damned Hippogriff was still watching me. "What?" I asked it. It continued to stare. "Stop looking at me like that. Stop it." it still stared. "What? You want me to apologise? All I did was insult you - it's in my nature to insult things ... I'm the one who's been scarred for life." I said, holding up my arm, as if that made a point. Still it stared at me, "O.K. - you're not ugly." I admitted. It tilted its head to one side, regarding me with an evaluating look, now. "That's as good as you're going to get - I don't say the 's' word." It nodded curtly, and proceeded to pretend I wasn't there ... I guess that was as good as I was going to get.
Instead of heading back to the castle, after my detention, I had some time before curfew, so I spent this time by wandering down to the lake. I washed my hands in the shallow waters of the edge of the lake, and just sat there looking out over the clear blue water, as the giant squid waved it tentacles above the surface. It was very picturesque.
Suddenly, I sensed a presence behind me - I tensed, hand moving slowly for my wand. Footsteps - but not human - an animal. I turned round drawing my wand, and pointing it at ... it was the black dog. "Oh, it's you." I said, lowering my defensive stance, "You're the stray that Theo fed all his cauldron cakes to, aren't you?" It nodded, "You seem very smart. You must be pretty intelligent to have gotten in here - the Dementors wouldn't let anything in or out, even an animal like you. How'd you get in, anyway?"
It backed away and suddenly rolled onto its back, as if asking for its tummy rubbed, possibly thinking it could distract me from my question. Oh, no. That was too much.
"Theo was right ... there is a connection." I muttered to myself, "Who are you?" I asked it. It stood up again, now backing away ... suddenly, it turned tail and ran. I followed, my curiosity getting the better of me. I realised too late that it had led me into the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
When it realised I had followed it this far, it suddenly stopped and turned around, growling. I stopped too, watching it carefully. I still had my wand out, and pointed it at the dog. The dog looked at the wand for a minute, stopping its growling. It then slowly stepped forward, giving the sort of innocent look that only a canine can. As it reached my side, and sniffed my free hand tentatively, it let out another low growl, but before I could react, it wasn't there anymore - instead, a human figure stood in its place, grabbing my wand from me, and pointing the newly acquired weapon at me. I looked up at him, knowing who he was before I saw his face - Sirius Black.
I took a few steps back, stumbling over a tree root, and landing on my butt. "S-Sirius Black." I stammered.
He nodded, "And you smell like a Malfoy." he noted, voice hoarse and obviously disused.
It was my turn to nod, "What do you want with me?"
"You asked who I was ... why ask a dog who it is?" he asked.
"I thought it was you ... I don't believe in coincidences, and you managed to get inside the castle grounds - so did the dog. What're the odds, without your now-obvious Animagism?"
"Smart boy." Black replied, "Now, tell me - and answer honestly, no matter what answer you expect me to want to hear - which side are you on? Voldemort's or Harry Potter's?"
"Neither ... the Dark Lord is a butt-ugly evil prick, and Potter's a good-goody attention-stealing brat." I answered - may as well tell the truth - he did tell me to answer honestly. Slowly, I stood up again, holding up my hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Choose a side." Black said coldly, "Dark or light?"
"I'd try towards light, if I had the choice ... but if given a direct order on pain of death, I would go to dark."
Black smiled, "A Malfoy being honest, who'd have thought ... and still a diplomatic answer if I ever heard one. I need your help. I need you to locate some- someTHING for me."
"I thought you were out to get Potter?"
"That's the popular theory, isn't it? It's a crock of shit. I'm out for murder, yes, but not Harry's."
"Who, then? Ronald Weasley?" I asked hopefully.
"The murder I was convicted of - the rat faked his own death."
"Clever ... memo to me: fake own death if snake-face ever feels the need to put a price on my head."
Black laughed, "Very funny, boy. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."
"Huh? For what?"
"For making me laugh for the first time in twelve years." he replied, the laughter fading as if it had never been there.
"Last time being when you were carted off to Azkaban ... tell me, escapee-of-the-insanitarium, why would you be breaking into the Gryffindor common rooms - twice - if you're not after Potter?"
"Watch it, Malfoy - I may know what it's like to be a smart-arse - used to enjoy it greatly - but I'm in no mood to put up with one right now." Black said coldly, "I was looking for my intended victim - he was, until recently, in the care of the Weasley boy you mentioned."
"Hold on a second - when you called him a rat ... did you mean it literally?"
"Yes."
"Scabbers ... Hermione's cat's been out for his blood all year - if the row I overheard is anything to go by, he's already dead." I informed him, considering for the moment, that even if he is stark-raving bonkers, I ought to play along with his delusions.
"He faked that, too - the cat told me so."
"The cat told you ... riiiiight."
"Don't patronise me, Malfoy." Black growled, sounding almost like the dog he could become. "I know it sounds farfetched, but it's the truth." either he was a better liar than my father - highly likely, considering Father had said that even he had been taken in - or he was telling the truth, in which case what Father had taken as convincing lies were actually genuine loyalty to the side of light.
I chose to be sceptical, "So what do you want me to do?"
"Look for the rat ... it must be alive, somewhere - find it and bring it to me. The rat must die." he replied.
"Surely it would be more logical to turn him in, if he really is alive. Then you'd not be a murderer ... just a traitor."
"I am not a traitor - the rat is!" he all-but-yelled - he couldn't yell properly, because his voice was so far-gone that it just wouldn't go that loud. "And don't call me Shirley." he added, seemingly instinctively.
"Right - give me my wand back, and I'll not try to turn you in ... I'll keep an eye out for Scabbers' ghost, too." I said, in the placating tone one uses to speak to unstable people.
Sceptically, he gave me back my wand, and I pocketed it immediately, to prove I wasn't going to use it on him. Suddenly, the dog stood before me, instead of the man, and then it ran off into the Forest - I ran the other way, to the safety of the lake-side. I sat there for some time, thinking. Eventually, I resolved myself to pretend that hadn't just happened - if I found the anorexic rodent, I would return it to its owner ... not before testing it's authenticity as a rat, but only to be on the safe side - I didn't really believe Black had been telling the truth. Either way, I wouldn't go out of my way for him.
Still, a little doubt lingered in my mind as I walked up to the castle - I had told him I would fight for the side of light, given the choice, and he had taken that as a good answer - what real servant of the Dark Lord would do that? And who among snake-face's ranks is brave enough to say his name?
* * *
As soon as I returned to the common room, I located Cat and Theo, talking with Milli about gods know what - I approached them, "Theo - Cat - need to talk - important." I said simply, before turning and making a beeline for the boys' dorm - Crabbe and Goyle were absent - good. Cat and Theo both seated themselves on Theo's bed, watching me.
"Enjoy detention, Draco?" Theo asked.
"Yes - shovelling Hippogriff shit is really my idea of fun, Theo." I said, sarcastically, "That's not the point. The point is, your pet stray that we met at the Shrieking Shack is actually Sirius Black."
"Hey - that rhymes!" Theo said.
Cat had gone very pale, "You've met him?" she asked.
"Yes, I've met him." I said.
"Where?" she asked.
"Near the Forbidden Forest." I replied.
"You went down to the Forbidden Forest?" Theo asked sceptically.
"Yes." I replied.
"So, he can't really be that bad, if he's our stray, can he?" Theo asked.
"Well, he is totally insane ... he thinks that he's innocent, and Weasley's pet rat is evil." I waved my index finger around my ear a few times, "Nut case, and not in the good way that you are, Theo."
Cat was giving me rabbit-in-headlights looks at this, "Draco ... what did he say, exactly? He didn't mention me, did he?" she asked.
"No - not a word about you, Cat ... he was trying to convince me that he hadn't been trying to kill Potter, all those times he tried to break into the Gryffindor Tower with a knife ... not that I care much about Potter's other enemies ... but he seemed to sincerely believe what he was saying." I noted.
"That's bizarre - you think he's really gone that mad?" Theo asked.
"Could have ... if either of you find the rat that bit Goyle, bring him to me ... I have vengeance to reek on it, anyway, but I'd rather check to be safe."
"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Cat asked, mystified.
"I think he thinks he was telling the truth." I replied, wholeheartedly believing the man was totally unhinged ... Azkaban will do that to you.
* * *
End of chapter 15
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.
Ice Angel: I'm going as fast as I can, honest! And thanks for telling me about the slip-up, I fixed it as soon as you told me.
Caz Malfoy: Ok. You know, that was one of the harder scenes to write, because I had to palm the blame off on someone other than Draco.
Logan: Why d'you feel stupid? You can't make an idiot of yourself in front of my ... I'm a better idiot than anyone!
angelkas: Um, I uploaded that chapter on a Monday. And this is Tursday, so assuming you read it today, this day won't suck too badly, will it? Hmm ... I don't know how the Daft Duo have got away without being diagnosed with a mental disorder, to be honest. Flint is part-troll - it implied so in PS/SS, in the real books "Harry thought Flint looked as if he had some troll blood in him" - so that's why he's so stupid (although still not as bad as Daft and Dafter). And the name McGonnaflip was "borrowed" (stolen, with permission) from Akuma-sama's The Snake Who Lived. Errors? Where?
dragonsprincess: Draco's detention is in this chapter. It was I who shifted the blame onto Flint - I figured the oldest student in the group causing the trouble should be genuinely to blame ... and I don't like Flint much, anyway ^_^. And Black's in this chapter, too ... and yes, Draco and Cat are second cousins ... Sirius and Narcissa are first cousins, so yeah.
fcuking cathy: Thank you.
Exactly what that detention implied ... can we say it again: awwwwwww, poor ickle Dwaco.
Chapter 15 - Detention, Take Two
You are going to laugh at me when I tell you this ... my detention was outdoors again. With Hagrid ... again.
"You want me to WHAT?!?" I asked.
"Yeh heard me. Yeh're ter clear out Buckbeak's pen. Don' worry - he's tied up on the far fence - yeh're not ter go near 'im." the gamekeeper replied.
I eyed the Hippogriff nervously. It was watching me evilly.
"But-" I started to protest, but I was interrupted.
"Would yeh rather go into the Forest again?" Hagrid asked. I immediately shook my head. "Then yeh'll be clearin' out Buckbeak's pen." he repeated. Damn.
It was hard work - Buckbeak may not be a small creature, but I was surprised at the amount of crap he seemed to have produced. And to add to that, the creature himself was staring at me the whole time, like he thought I belonged with the pile of dead ferrets he was currently mutilating with his beak. I shuddered as I thought that, returning to the task at hand - as soon as I finished this, I could go - it wasn't as bad as searching the Forbidden Forest for evil homicidal maniacs ... which Hagrid could quite easily have made me do, considering who was running around the castle grounds somewhere.
I didn't know why they bothered getting me to do this now - the Hippogriff was as good as dead - why not wait till after its execution to clean out its pen?
When I had finished, I looked around, seeing Hagrid had disappeared ... that damned Hippogriff was still watching me. "What?" I asked it. It continued to stare. "Stop looking at me like that. Stop it." it still stared. "What? You want me to apologise? All I did was insult you - it's in my nature to insult things ... I'm the one who's been scarred for life." I said, holding up my arm, as if that made a point. Still it stared at me, "O.K. - you're not ugly." I admitted. It tilted its head to one side, regarding me with an evaluating look, now. "That's as good as you're going to get - I don't say the 's' word." It nodded curtly, and proceeded to pretend I wasn't there ... I guess that was as good as I was going to get.
Instead of heading back to the castle, after my detention, I had some time before curfew, so I spent this time by wandering down to the lake. I washed my hands in the shallow waters of the edge of the lake, and just sat there looking out over the clear blue water, as the giant squid waved it tentacles above the surface. It was very picturesque.
Suddenly, I sensed a presence behind me - I tensed, hand moving slowly for my wand. Footsteps - but not human - an animal. I turned round drawing my wand, and pointing it at ... it was the black dog. "Oh, it's you." I said, lowering my defensive stance, "You're the stray that Theo fed all his cauldron cakes to, aren't you?" It nodded, "You seem very smart. You must be pretty intelligent to have gotten in here - the Dementors wouldn't let anything in or out, even an animal like you. How'd you get in, anyway?"
It backed away and suddenly rolled onto its back, as if asking for its tummy rubbed, possibly thinking it could distract me from my question. Oh, no. That was too much.
"Theo was right ... there is a connection." I muttered to myself, "Who are you?" I asked it. It stood up again, now backing away ... suddenly, it turned tail and ran. I followed, my curiosity getting the better of me. I realised too late that it had led me into the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
When it realised I had followed it this far, it suddenly stopped and turned around, growling. I stopped too, watching it carefully. I still had my wand out, and pointed it at the dog. The dog looked at the wand for a minute, stopping its growling. It then slowly stepped forward, giving the sort of innocent look that only a canine can. As it reached my side, and sniffed my free hand tentatively, it let out another low growl, but before I could react, it wasn't there anymore - instead, a human figure stood in its place, grabbing my wand from me, and pointing the newly acquired weapon at me. I looked up at him, knowing who he was before I saw his face - Sirius Black.
I took a few steps back, stumbling over a tree root, and landing on my butt. "S-Sirius Black." I stammered.
He nodded, "And you smell like a Malfoy." he noted, voice hoarse and obviously disused.
It was my turn to nod, "What do you want with me?"
"You asked who I was ... why ask a dog who it is?" he asked.
"I thought it was you ... I don't believe in coincidences, and you managed to get inside the castle grounds - so did the dog. What're the odds, without your now-obvious Animagism?"
"Smart boy." Black replied, "Now, tell me - and answer honestly, no matter what answer you expect me to want to hear - which side are you on? Voldemort's or Harry Potter's?"
"Neither ... the Dark Lord is a butt-ugly evil prick, and Potter's a good-goody attention-stealing brat." I answered - may as well tell the truth - he did tell me to answer honestly. Slowly, I stood up again, holding up my hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Choose a side." Black said coldly, "Dark or light?"
"I'd try towards light, if I had the choice ... but if given a direct order on pain of death, I would go to dark."
Black smiled, "A Malfoy being honest, who'd have thought ... and still a diplomatic answer if I ever heard one. I need your help. I need you to locate some- someTHING for me."
"I thought you were out to get Potter?"
"That's the popular theory, isn't it? It's a crock of shit. I'm out for murder, yes, but not Harry's."
"Who, then? Ronald Weasley?" I asked hopefully.
"The murder I was convicted of - the rat faked his own death."
"Clever ... memo to me: fake own death if snake-face ever feels the need to put a price on my head."
Black laughed, "Very funny, boy. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."
"Huh? For what?"
"For making me laugh for the first time in twelve years." he replied, the laughter fading as if it had never been there.
"Last time being when you were carted off to Azkaban ... tell me, escapee-of-the-insanitarium, why would you be breaking into the Gryffindor common rooms - twice - if you're not after Potter?"
"Watch it, Malfoy - I may know what it's like to be a smart-arse - used to enjoy it greatly - but I'm in no mood to put up with one right now." Black said coldly, "I was looking for my intended victim - he was, until recently, in the care of the Weasley boy you mentioned."
"Hold on a second - when you called him a rat ... did you mean it literally?"
"Yes."
"Scabbers ... Hermione's cat's been out for his blood all year - if the row I overheard is anything to go by, he's already dead." I informed him, considering for the moment, that even if he is stark-raving bonkers, I ought to play along with his delusions.
"He faked that, too - the cat told me so."
"The cat told you ... riiiiight."
"Don't patronise me, Malfoy." Black growled, sounding almost like the dog he could become. "I know it sounds farfetched, but it's the truth." either he was a better liar than my father - highly likely, considering Father had said that even he had been taken in - or he was telling the truth, in which case what Father had taken as convincing lies were actually genuine loyalty to the side of light.
I chose to be sceptical, "So what do you want me to do?"
"Look for the rat ... it must be alive, somewhere - find it and bring it to me. The rat must die." he replied.
"Surely it would be more logical to turn him in, if he really is alive. Then you'd not be a murderer ... just a traitor."
"I am not a traitor - the rat is!" he all-but-yelled - he couldn't yell properly, because his voice was so far-gone that it just wouldn't go that loud. "And don't call me Shirley." he added, seemingly instinctively.
"Right - give me my wand back, and I'll not try to turn you in ... I'll keep an eye out for Scabbers' ghost, too." I said, in the placating tone one uses to speak to unstable people.
Sceptically, he gave me back my wand, and I pocketed it immediately, to prove I wasn't going to use it on him. Suddenly, the dog stood before me, instead of the man, and then it ran off into the Forest - I ran the other way, to the safety of the lake-side. I sat there for some time, thinking. Eventually, I resolved myself to pretend that hadn't just happened - if I found the anorexic rodent, I would return it to its owner ... not before testing it's authenticity as a rat, but only to be on the safe side - I didn't really believe Black had been telling the truth. Either way, I wouldn't go out of my way for him.
Still, a little doubt lingered in my mind as I walked up to the castle - I had told him I would fight for the side of light, given the choice, and he had taken that as a good answer - what real servant of the Dark Lord would do that? And who among snake-face's ranks is brave enough to say his name?
* * *
As soon as I returned to the common room, I located Cat and Theo, talking with Milli about gods know what - I approached them, "Theo - Cat - need to talk - important." I said simply, before turning and making a beeline for the boys' dorm - Crabbe and Goyle were absent - good. Cat and Theo both seated themselves on Theo's bed, watching me.
"Enjoy detention, Draco?" Theo asked.
"Yes - shovelling Hippogriff shit is really my idea of fun, Theo." I said, sarcastically, "That's not the point. The point is, your pet stray that we met at the Shrieking Shack is actually Sirius Black."
"Hey - that rhymes!" Theo said.
Cat had gone very pale, "You've met him?" she asked.
"Yes, I've met him." I said.
"Where?" she asked.
"Near the Forbidden Forest." I replied.
"You went down to the Forbidden Forest?" Theo asked sceptically.
"Yes." I replied.
"So, he can't really be that bad, if he's our stray, can he?" Theo asked.
"Well, he is totally insane ... he thinks that he's innocent, and Weasley's pet rat is evil." I waved my index finger around my ear a few times, "Nut case, and not in the good way that you are, Theo."
Cat was giving me rabbit-in-headlights looks at this, "Draco ... what did he say, exactly? He didn't mention me, did he?" she asked.
"No - not a word about you, Cat ... he was trying to convince me that he hadn't been trying to kill Potter, all those times he tried to break into the Gryffindor Tower with a knife ... not that I care much about Potter's other enemies ... but he seemed to sincerely believe what he was saying." I noted.
"That's bizarre - you think he's really gone that mad?" Theo asked.
"Could have ... if either of you find the rat that bit Goyle, bring him to me ... I have vengeance to reek on it, anyway, but I'd rather check to be safe."
"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Cat asked, mystified.
"I think he thinks he was telling the truth." I replied, wholeheartedly believing the man was totally unhinged ... Azkaban will do that to you.
* * *
End of chapter 15