CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: THE CHARADE
Harry sat beside Ron, with Hermione and Draco sitting on the opposite side of the table. The group was oddly quiet, none of them eating, too nervous to actually get any food into their stomachs. Every few seconds, one or all of the group would cast a nervous glance at the double doors of the Great Hall.
Giles, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore were seated at the Professors table, each of them attempting to maintain a casual persona. Giles couldn't believe that he had agreed to Snape's plan. Snape couldn't believe that the others had agreed with the plan he'd come up with. Dumbledore could only hope that everything went accordingly. He did not wish for this to be drawn out for very long.
The double doors at the back of the Hall burst open, drawing the attention of the entire school. Dumbledore stood to greet the outraged Cornelius Fudge followed by three Aurors.
"Where is she Dumbledore?" Fudge demanded. "We've searched this entire castle, and she is not here."
The students broke out into hushed whispers, most of them comprising of the words "Buffy…" "Summers…" "…Know-Who's daughter…" "Cruciatus…" "…Crabbe…" "…Azkaban."
"Believe me Cornelius, I wish for her to be apprehended as expediently as possible," Dumbledore said. "We have not seen Miss Summers since she fled from my office yesterday evening. It is possible that she is no longer at Hogwarts."
"Or, maybe the whole lot of you are ignorant idiots who have no idea of the kind of power that I hold in my hands," came a new voice from behind the three Aurors.
Every single person in the Hall turned to look at Buffy as she entered. She fought to keep herself from going bright red under their scrutiny. This wasn't the first time that the whole school had thought her to be completely evil, so this was nothing new for her. She just wished that her reputation hadn't been completely killed by whomever it was that had been masquerading as her the previous day.
She had her suspicions about who it might have been. When Snape had come up with the plan to trap the real perpetrator, Buffy's memory had clicked onto something important that Snape had taught them in class.
A person's hair was a powerful spell ingredient. That was why it was so important to keep yourself guarded during a fight, and to try and erase any remains of yourself from an area after leaving a confrontation. She'd completely forgotten about the two Slytherin girls who had been so antagonistic to her one morning before Defence Against the Dark Arts. They'd pulled out a strand of her hair. Buffy had thought that it was merely a childish display, but, considering the theory of a Polyjuice Potion, it seemed to be the most logical answer.
Which then meant that it was most likely a Slytherin person who had made themselves the potion. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Buffy and Draco all presumed that it was either Millicent Bulstrode or Blaise Zabini, but since they had no solid proof, they needed to be certain. They were hoping that this charade would give them the proof that they needed.
"You won't be holding any power once we throw you into Azkaban," Fudge said coldly.
Buffy just smirked at him. "I'd like to see you try."
Fudge looked at the three Aurors and nodded to them. They each drew out their wands and shouted a simultaneous curse. "Stupefy!" Buffy flew backwards, hitting the now closed double doors of the Great Hall. She fell to the round, slumping against the wall.
Giles half-stood in panic. That hadn't been part of the plan. They were meant to have hit her with one stunning spell, not three. Snape reached over to touch Giles' arm, silently telling the DADA Professor to remain calm.
Giles couldn't take his eyes off his fallen charge, but Snape and Dumbledore's eyes were trained on the two girls that Buffy had named as the people she thought could be the ones behind the entire confusing incident.
Blaise Zabini and Millicent Bulstrode, however, were not the only Slytherins who looked overly satisfied by the fact that Buffy Summers had just been knocked out by the Stunning Spell. Snape, who knew the Slytherin students the best, could see the satisfied smirks of Goyle and a somehow miraculously healed Crabbe as well.
Snape leant across to whisper to Giles. "I could perhaps be wrong, but I was under the impression that a victim of the Cruciatus Curse is usually bed-ridden for nearly twelve hours, even with the proper healing medicines. It has barely been six hours since the curse hit him."
Giles turned to look at the boy in question. He hadn't noticed that Crabbe was sitting at the Slytherin table, calm as you please. In fact, he didn't seem to be suffering any ill effects at all. And Giles knew for certain that as someone who was meant to have been suffering the after effects of a Cruciatus Curse, he should have been unconscious in the hospital wing.
"I think perhaps there was more than one person involved in today's affair," Dumbledore whispered quietly.
Snape, McGonagall and Giles nodded their agreement. They hadn't thought too much about how many people would have been involved in what had happened.
Giles stood as he saw one of the Aurors move to pick Buffy up in a fireman's carry. He quickly moved towards Fudge and the Aurors, wanting to put as much room between the Ministry and his young charge.
"I am sorry Professor Giles, but your ward is going to be charged with using an Unforgiveable Curse," Fudge said coolly. "No doubt she'll be sent to Azkaban for this."
"You cannot send a minor to Azakaban," Giles protested loudly.
Dumbledore clapped his hands loudly, gaining everyone's attention.
"Perhaps this conversation could be relocated gentlemen," the Headmaster suggested.
Fudge scowled up at the man. "There is not going to be anymore conversation about this matter Dumbledore," Fudge said. "She will be charged, and she will be found guilty. There is nothing more to discuss."
Harry fidgeted nervously in his seat. Hermione kicked him beneath the table to get him to stay still. He glared at her, but settled himself down. He didn't like seeing Buffy slung over some stranger's shoulder. He definitely hadn't liked seeing his girlfriend hit by three Stunning Spells at the one time. And he really didn't like the mention of Azkaban in regards to Buffy. Even knowing what was really going on, he was very uncomfortable with the Ministry being anywhere near Buffy.
"Now, if you don't mind, we're leaving," Fudge said. With flourish, he turned and stalked out the door, the three Aurors trailing behind him, with Buffy still slung over one of the Auror's shoulders.
It was quiet and subtle and would have been missed altogether had Snape not been watching the four Slytherin suspects like a hawk. Blaise, Millicent, Goyle and Crabbe's smirks all seemed to widen. They looked completely jubilant at the sight of Buffy being carted off by the Ministry. The rest of the Slytherins looked as confused as the rest of the school, but the four that Snape suspected looked as though they had just won the lottery.
Draco was glaring at his former housemates. Goyle and Crabbe smirked at him, Goyle flipping him off before returning to his food. Millicent exchanged a satisfied look with Crabbe and Goyle before returning to a conversation with Pansy Parkinson. Blaise caught Draco's gaze and found herself unable to hold it. Why, she couldn't have explained, but she was unable to keep looking him in the eye.
When Blaise looked away, Draco knew without a doubt who it was that had kissed him earlier in the day. It may have looked and sounded like Buffy, but it was Blaise Zabini who had been behind it. Her words from many weeks before suddenly came back to him.
"I mean to have you Malfoy. And I will." It made so much more sense now. The only question was, why Zabini would have gone to such great lengths to get him. Had she made the Potion merely to have a shot with Draco, or had it been to completely ruin Buffy's life. Then again, the two went hand in hand quite well, so it was possible that Blaise had just decided to kill two birds with the one stone.
"It was Blaise," Draco whispered under his breath.
The three Gryffindors looked at him, startled. "How do you know that?" Harry asked.
Draco cast another glance at Blaise, who again looked away when their eyes met. Draco smirked at her before turning his attention back to his three…dare he say it…friends.
"A few weeks ago, in that Potions lesson where Zabini completely messed up the potion…she told me that she…well…wanted me," Draco explained.
Harry and Ron shared a look that Draco just glared at them for.
"I know, I know, who'd want someone like me," Draco said, in a mock-depreciating way. "That's not the point. The point is, she said that she was going to have me. That while she may not have been my type then, she would become my type. She thought I was in love with Buffy. And when I looked at her just now…there's no way it wasn't her. I would recognise her eyes anywhere now."
Harry looked over his shoulder towards the Slytherin table. He nearly growled in anger at the smirks he saw four of the Slytherins wearing. When he saw Blaise, he too couldn't help but recognise the coldness of the eyes. While the eyes that Blaise had been looking out of earlier that day may have been hazel, there as no way to hide the cold depths that Harry and Draco had both seen. And Blaise's brown eyes had the exact same coldness that they'd seen in Buffy's earlier.
"The eyes are the window to the soul," Hermione mused.
"If she even has a soul," Ron added darkly, chancing a glance at the Slytherins.
"What I want to know is how Crabbe is out of the hospital wing so quickly," Draco said.
The other three turned thoughtful at that suggestion. They looked up to where Madame Pomfrey sat, calm as she could be. The three Gryffindors and the former Slytherin knew from experience that whenever Pomfrey had a patient, she was incredibly neurotic in her worry. How she could possibly be so calm when she was meant to have had a patient go through with the injuries from a Cruciatus Curse was beyond her.
"Does anyone think that maybe that Cruciatus Curse never even hit Crabbe?" Hermione suggested.
The other three turned thoughtful.
"You'd think that Crabbe wouldn't be so thick as to turn up for dinner so soon after being 'hit' by a curse," Ron said. "I know he's got the appetite of an elephant, but even that's a little too dumb even for him."
"He's never been accused of being the brightest among the Slytherins," Draco commented.
Their attention was drawn back to the Professors table when they saw Snape stand and approach Pomfrey.
"Looks like Snape just had the same idea we had," Harry commented.
Ron's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Scary."
They saw Pomfrey shake her head, in what they could only guess was a response to the question of having treated Vincent Crabbe.
The four students exchanged curious glances, Harry smiling a little. If Pomfrey hadn't admitted Crabbe to the Hospital Wing, there was no way that the Ministry could convict Buffy, even though Fudge was part of Snape's plan. The problem was, with so many students having seen Buffy perform the spell with their own eyes, there was enough evidence to get Buffy in serious trouble. They were lucky that Fudge was going along with the plan at all.
Or so they thought…
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Dun nun nun nah. Suspend your sense of reality for a while. ;) My apologies for the lack of updates. Sadly I've just hit a horrible patch of uni, and have got exams and assignments coming out my…ears. *ahem* moving along…
Many thanks for your feedback!
Toodles.
K.