Chapter thirteen

(I found a song worthy of this fic! Lol, nah, my BETA found it for me and thought it fits in so scarily perfectly! Hehe! It's at the end of the next chappie so I don't clutter up the start in case you don't want to read it and it fits in better there.  Thankies for all ur reviews! Draco's Girl gave me a cookie! Yay! *munches happily* big thankies also to Loki for another great review! Enjoy this one my club of slayers!)

Draco still didn't open his eyes when he heard the voice.  He was still holding tightly onto Harry's sleeve as if it was a life line.  The voice had to be a dream; a distant note of hope in his mind that was playing a cruel trick on his senses.  His head was spinning although he could not explain why, he felt dizzy and the tugging inside him was getting stronger and more constant.  He held on.

"What the hell happened?"

Draco felt someone gently touch his shoulder.  He jumped up quickly, yelling and hissing in both fear and defence.  His eyes were ablaze, wide and fearful, his stance was that of a predator ready to attack but he froze and his face softened when he saw where he was.

It was a small room with shelves upon shelves of horrid creatures and God only knows what else in jars.  It was dark except for a few bars of gold light seeping in through the shutters.  He would've completely freaked out if he hadn't have seen three familiar faces staring at him cautiously.  He looked from one to the other slowly.  Somehow, he had managed to transport Harry and himself, back to where he was thinking of before it happened.  Draco smiled to himself as he looked around, hardly daring to believe what had just happened.  He had just disapparated away from the Deatheaters, he couldn't believe it.  He let out a small laugh that probably made him sound insane as he turned round to take in the sight of the room, as if it would disappear if he did not think of it, like a dream.

"Grab him!" Ron yelled, running forward and tackling Draco to the ground once he had turned away.

"HEY?! What's with- OUCH! Some bloody welcome this is!" Draco was trying to kick Ron off him.  Oh, it's real alright! Hurts too much to be a dream!

"Ron!" Hermione snapped angrily, rising from Harry's side.  "Get off him, he's hurt already!"

"Can't be too careful with him, he's not safe!" Ron replied.

"The only person in this room who is not safe is you Weasley, 'cause I swear, if you do not get off me in five seconds, I will kick you so hard you will hit the far wall before you can blink! One…" Draco threatened through gritted teeth so it came out in a sinister hiss through his fangs.

"Oh, you hear that? It's evil I tell you!"

"Two…"

"I'll get off you when you prove you won't try to bite me again!"

"Three…"

"I don't trust you!"

"I'm warning you! Four…"

"Ron, please, get off him! He threatens you every day anyway, it's no different! He's safe and I know it!" Harry sat up.

"Why is everyone treating me like a dog with rabies of something? I am fine!"

Professor Lupin knelt down beside Draco and Ron and stared hard at him.

"What are you looking at wolf man?" Draco snapped irritably.

Lupin sighed, "He's back…"

Ron reluctantly let Draco go and went over to talk to Harry, see what action he 'unfortunately' missed.

Draco stood up and brushed down his black shirt and trousers quickly, muttering and cursing under his breath.  Hermione walked slightly cautiously towards him, not sure whether to trust him or not.  Draco had sensed her fear and turned to face her.  She stopped and stared with wide eyes.

"It's OK, I promise I won't hurt you!" he gave her a friendly smile as he held out a hand to her.

Hermione looked down at it as if it was a trick but she looked up at his face and she smiled.  It was him.

"Thank God! You did it Draco! You did it!" she jumped forward and put her arms around his neck, giving him a warm hug, although she could feel the coldness of his body against her straight away.

Draco responded and put his arms around her waist, burying his face into her hair, lapping up the heat of her body.  The mortal part of him had missed her, wanted things to be the way they were so they could be together because now, it wouldn't happen.  He felt a mixture of anger and sadness inside him over this, a slight tug on his dead, motionless heart.  Perhaps now he couldn't love now that his heart was cold, but then if he couldn't what was he feeling now? He was weak; he had lingered on the sadness and heartbreak for too long and the pulling at his soul was getting increasingly stronger until he grew fearful.

"Restrain me! For your own good! Do it n-" Draco hissed and suddenly leapt backwards holding onto his chest then his head before he sank to the ground, curled up like a beaten child.

Harry and Ron stared up in freight; Lupin had his wand out at the ready.

"What happened?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Hold him down! Hurry up with that potion Professor!" Hermione shrieked.  Lupin quickly ran over to the cauldron which was just starting to boil over the flame in the corner of the room.

"It will take at least four hours, maybe anything up to the evening! Try to get him to fight harder!" Lupin panicked as he dashed for the cauldron with the last ingredient.  If this spirit came back, they'd never get Draco back, it would disapparate away from them.

Harry and Ron quickly dived forward and grabbed Draco as Hermione began to shake him.

"Come on! Hold on there Draco please?!" she screamed.

"Hermione!" Lupin called.  "If he does come back, try a power outage spell, it might work!"

"How long will it last?"

"At least three hours… not long enough but we can try something else to render him unconscious if needed, maybe something heavy…  What? Oh come on, this is not the time to be nice here!" he added seeing the horrified looks on the children's faces at the teacher's viciousness.

"Right!" Hermione looked disturbed but remained calm and collected.  She got out her wand and ran over in her head the incantation, she was shaking. He wasn't going to get away, not now!

Draco was shaking on the ground with his white hand covering his head, grabbing the white hair as if in frustration and swearing quietly, muttering angrily to himself.

No! please… leave me alone! Not now, please!

I told you that you would not win this, you foolish boy! Now you're friends will die and it will be all your fault!

NO! I won't let you!

You can't stop me, you're too weak and pathetic.  The spell is fading… and so are your chances.

YOU EVil bast…-

Draco groaned and propped himself up on one arm, his head still bowed and his face hidden by his long and messy white hair that fell over it like a curtain.

The three students backed away slightly, not knowing what to expect.  Hermione kept her wand fixed on him, although her hand was shaking, Harry was ready to grab Draco's arm if he was to try to attack while Ron was already holding on to his other arm, glaring hot-eyed at him.

Draco grinned under the shadow of his hair, gain their trust… gain their trust then kill them.  They will suffer for what they have tried to do!

"Is he… him?" Harry looked up at Hermione who merely shrugged in response but never taking her eyes off him.

"I'm not taking any chances!" Ron stood up and pointed his wand directly at Draco.  "He'd better be him or there will be trouble!"

"Weasley… are you going to act the hard man or are you going to help me up! Fighting this thing off is not easy!" Draco's familiar yet strained voice was very quiet.

None of them moved, they stared at each other in silence.  The only sound was of Lupin making up the potion in the background.

Harry swallowed, "I think we should help him… but stay on your guard,"

Ron stared at Harry as if he were mad but soon knelt down to haul Draco up from the ground.  It was easy, he was practically weightless, like lifting a bag of feathers.  Hermione took Draco's cold hand in hers.  Draco turned to her with eyes half opened and he collapsed onto her shoulder, she also found that he was unusually light.  She couldn't tell wither he was him or not, his eyes were closed.  She did not trust him, she sensed something evil.  Hermione tensed up and began to breathe more heavily.

"Thanks…" he whispered into her ear soothingly, she relaxed slightly but not enough to wash her worries away.  "Or… should I be thanking you?" he added in a more threatening tone as his grip on her got tighter.

Hermione's heart missed a beat, "What?" she whispered back, fear rising.  If this is a joke… I'm not laughing… I'll kill him if he's just messing around now!

"He should be thanking you for trying to save him… I should be killing you for the same reason! I will not let you get away with this you meddling mudblood!" he hissed bitterly yet satisfactory.

Hermione screamed and tried to wriggle away from him but his grip was too strong, "GET AWAY! HARRY! RON! HELP!"

Harry and Ron sprang to save her but Draco was too quick for them.  He turned round, grabbing Hermione by one arm and her throat and jumping over their heads as they dived for him.  Draco landed behind them with a manic grin full of malice spreading over his pale face that made his fiery eyes smaller and more sinister.

"Don't even try it… none of you move, or I'll kill her quicker than you can reach me!" he sneered.

Ron looked to Harry and mocked him, "Oh… let's help him Ron… he sounds OK… just keep an eye on him… yeah right Harry!"

Lupin, who was behind Draco with the cauldron reached for his wand behind Draco's back.

"That goes for you too wolf man!" Draco said while still looking straight ahead.  "Try it and I kill the girl…"

Lupin froze, no one dared to try anything.

"What do you want D-… you creature?" Harry breathed.  He was about to call it Draco, but it wasn't.  Draco would not do this.

"I want to make you all suffer for trying to destroy me… especially this pretty little thing," he leaned down and kissed her forehead lightly before grinning at them to see their reaction.

"So… no matter what we do… you will just kill us anyway… won't you?" Harry glared.

Draco thought for a moment, "Yeah… pretty much so.  It's check mate Potter, you can't win! I suppose I shouldn't put her through this trauma… maybe I should just put her out of her misery now… eh…" he rested his head on hers and stroked her neck.

Hermione's eyes were wide with fear, she didn't know what to do, she was too scared to think.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Ron stepped forward, Harry held out his arm to hold him back.

"Or you'll do what?" Draco sneered in a slow voice, glaring.  Ron glared back and reached into his pocket for his wand.  "Go ahead… try it.  It'll only cost her life!" Draco smiled menacingly.

So many things happened at once it was hard to take it all in.  Ron leapt forward towards Draco, Draco jumped back and sank his teeth into Hermione's neck and she screamed in pain and fear.  Lupin took this chance to curse Draco. 

"Flipendo!" he yelled viciously.

Draco was knocked backwards away from Hermione into the wall with a load crack.  He shakily stood back up and bared his teeth at the professor.  "You'll pay for that, werewolf!" A bright, green light began to form on the palm of one of his hands.  "You will all die."

"Ut Napíca!" Harry stepped in and shouted as a yellow light like lightning shot out of his wand and straight at Draco's chest.  The green light from Draco's hand exploded and the light surrounded him.  Draco cried out loud in outrage and he shielded his eyes from the bright light.  As the light dulled down it exploded again, into millions of tiny star-like lights, and sent Draco hurtling into the wall again.  This time, he did not get back up.

Harry didn't stay where he was for long or check to see if Draco really was unconscious, he just dropped his wand and dived down to where Hermione was lying with the other two at her side.

She was holding her neck and crying with the pain as blood streamed down the side of her neck and soaking her clothes.  Her hands were scarlet with the blood, she was losing too much.

"Get her to the hospital wing now!" Lupin ordered Ron as he gave Hermione a cloth to put over the wounds.  "She'll die if she's not seen to!"

Ron put Hermione's left arm over his shoulder and hauled her up to her feet and helped her to walk out the door.  Harry also got up to go with them.

"No, Harry.  You stay here and keep an eye on it," he nodded towards Draco's motionless body lying spread out over the floor beside the wall, "and keep an eye out for any other teachers as I finish this potion."

Harry thought for a moment, "This is all too much… it's not worth it… he's not worth this… we could just kill him now and end this."

Lupin sighed.  "You have to remember, by doing this we are making Hermione happy, we are bringing Draco back and most importantly, we may be saving some lives.  If we get him onto our side we have a spy to find out every move of the dark side.  You can't tell me that this is not worth that."

Harry nodded.  "But he could've killed her professor… I…" Harry stopped.  Lupin knew what he was going to say.

"Don't say it, never worry.  She'll be fine.  After this day everything will be fine, almost normal."

"I hope so."

*~*~*~*

"What is going on here?"

Ron stopped, Hermione groaned.  They had just been though McGonnagal, two prefects and Peeves to get to where they were, the hospital wing corridor, and now who should stop them now but their best friend Professor Snape.  Ron was not going to let him get in the way.

"Emergency sir!" Ron said quickly trying to dodge past.  Hermione kept the cloth to her neck but of course the blood had soaked through.

"What happened?" Snape demanded.

"… er… a game of… truth or dare gone wrong… bye!" Ron tried to squeeze past.

"What is wrong with her? Surely something as bad as that couldn't be accidental.  Let me see."

Why does he have to be so annoying? Why can't he just let us past? Ron whined to himself.

There was a sudden explosion coming from down in the dungeons, Snape turned and ran, ignoring Ron and Hermione completely now.

"Well, that was good!" Ron smiled.

"Ron… Harry and Lupin are down there with Draco… it was probably them… how's that good?" Hermione whispered.

Ron's eyes widened as he realised, "Oh shit…"

*~*~*~*

Lupin coughed and tried to waft the cloud of thick smoke away from him.  "Maybe that was a little too much venom… never was good at potions," he coughed again.

"Well, if they don't know we're down here now it's a God send!" Harry smiled as he watched out the door.  Harry thought for a moment before drawing his head back inside the room, "Why are we hiding this from everyone else? Surely they'll find out about Draco some time."

"That's not the point Harry.  Yes everyone thinks he's dead and they'll go crazy when they find out he's a vampire but it's not just that.  If they find out now, they'll get the ministry and they'll kill him thinking he's not safe.  Then that'll be our plans ruined to use him as a spy and people will be in danger and we may never get our Headmaster back! If we bring him round first, they wouldn't kill him.  It'd be like killing a student." (A/N- Yes! I haven't forgotten that poor old Proffy D is unconscious in the hospital wing! And Loki… I used your idea!)

Harry nodded and he looked out of the door again.  He swallowed when he saw a familiar and dark figure walking briskly down the corridor towards them.  He thought quickly and stepped out, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Morning Professor!" he smiled, "…er… nice weather isn't it?"

"What are you up to Potter?" Snape snarled.

"Up to? Me? Nothing sir! Nope… nothing…" Harry said quickly and shook his head.

"What was the explosion? Why is there smoke coming out of the store room?"

"What? Oh that! Well, you see I thought that we had found a potion to bring Dumbledore around again so me, Ron and Hermione are fixing it up.  You don't mind do you?"

Snape raised an eyebrow, "Are Mr Weasley and Miss Granger in there with you Potter?"

"Oh yes… we couldn't do it without Hermione!"

"So, can you please tell me how I met the two of them on their way up to the hospital wing? And what was wrong with miss Granger…"

Harry's mouth opened and closed several times but not making a sound.

"Let me in there Potter, I don't have time for your stalling," Snape pushed Harry to the side but he didn't get in the room.  Lupin opened the door and stood in the doorway.

"Snape! What a pleasant surprise!" he smiled.

"What are the two of you up to?" Snape was getting very angry now, the vein on his head was pulsing and his face was turning a bright scarlet colour.

"Potion making… to…er… help Dumbledore."

"And why wasn't I consulted? I am the potion master here after all."

"You-… we couldn't find you…" Lupin tried to keep a straight face.  "I'll tell you what you can do to help though… you can go and fetch me a large goblet from the kitchens… please…"

Snape glared, "I'll find out what the two of you are up to, and I swear I'll have you fired for this Lupin and you expelled Potter.  You are doing something illegal in there, I know it!" he turned round and walked off just as briskly as before.

Harry and Lupin turned and smiled at each other, ready to burst out into laughter.

*~*~*~*~*  (speeding things up now!)

"You Okay?" Harry gave Hermione a hug when she returned.

"I think so… still feel faint.  Do you have any idea what we went through to stop the nurse from finding out? And the things we had to say to get out of there?" Hermione added with disgust, scratching at the bandage around her neck.  Harry and Ron grinned at each other, they both knew Hermione hated lying to adults. 

"Did you get a cross Hermione?" Lupin asked as he poured some of the potion into a goblet.

Hermione reached into her pocket and drew out the necklace that Draco had taken off her and threw away.  She and Ron had went out to look for it knowing that a cross would be needed.  She wanted to use the cross from this, it was special.

"Take the cross off the heart, I'll keep the heart," she handed it to him.

Lupin smiled, "Like a friendship necklace… Nice touch."

Lupin left them to watch Draco while he meddled with the necklace.  First he separated the cross and the heart, by magic of course, and then he placed a small crystal on the place where the two bars of the cross met.  This is where the evil spirit would be condemned to; they could never get rid of it completely.

 Draco stirred on the ground.  Lupin quickly put the cross onto a thick silver chain and ran over to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"OK, he needs to drink all of this, then when the spirit has retreated, we put the cross on him.  Got it?"

All three nodded.  Draco turned over lazily and opened his dark eyes.  He glared at them and made a move to attack them.  "You will regret that dearly Potter!"

"Oh shut up!" Harry raised his eyebrows.  Both boys lunged forward and pinned him to the ground.

Draco thrashed, kicked, cursed and hissed wildly at them.  He couldn't use his magic to escape either, the spell Harry had used was a power outage spell.  "Let me go! You'll regret this Potter I swear it!"

"Yeah, yeah… heard it all before," Harry sighed.

Lupin knelt down beside Draco.  Draco saw the steaming goblet.  "What's that?" he asked fearfully.

"Drink it and you'll find out," Lupin lowered the goblet to Draco's mouth.

He tried to fight out of their grip but when he knew he couldn't get out, he just closed his eyes and kept his mouth firmly shut.

"I knew this would be difficult!" Lupin straightened up again.  Draco smirked.

"Leave it to me," Ron held Draco's nose.

Draco turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, "That doesn't work on vampires you idiot, we don't need to-"

"Now!"

Lupin took this opportunity to force the hot liquid into Draco's mouth and force him to swallow it by tilting his head backwards.

"Told you I'd make him drink it," Ron grinned in satisfaction.

After Draco had finished the potion he cried out fiercely in outrage and annoyance, but it wasn't long before he calmed down and his eyes slowly began to close.

So much for trying to kill my friends then.  You're the pathetic one!

You can't stop me! Do you honestly think that this spell will hold me back!

Yes… yes I do.

Well, you have to get past me if you want to get back.  That won't be easy.

Oh… scary… well, I'm going to get past you and live a peaceful life without you… nice knowing you anyway! Bye bye now!

Draco twisted and tossed about in their grip, his face was full of pain yet vague determination.  His eyes were firmly shut.   Everyone waited.

"Come on Draco…" Hermione whispered.  At that point, Draco's eyes shot open as he let out a loud cry of pain.

"The cross! Now!" Hermione screamed.

Lupin reached forward and clasped the chain around Draco's neck and sealing it on with a spell.  Draco cried out and hot tears of blood streamed his face as he tensed up and began to shake.  The clear crystal on the cross began to turn a cloudy black colour then a clear sky-blue.

Hermione looked down at him and she held his hand tightly, not wanting to let go as if he would go if she did.  He looked up at her with big, shiny, silver eyes before they too began to slowly close and his body relaxed.

(Going to have to stop it there! I didn't think it would be that long! I was wanting to write a lot more but… guess not!  Exams are over! YAY!!!!!! So me= happy  J .  The fic will take horrific turns later I swear! Most of them die in horrible, horrible ways! But from now until Draco finds out all of his powers, it's gonna be nice-ish! Don't know if I like this chappie or not but… I have a second opinion cos my BETA will now have her comments…  am I mad doing this?)

Nicky's verdict:

Things I thought were funny-

"What are you looking at wolf man?"

"A game of truth or dare gone wrong"

"Why does he have to be so annoying?"

"Oh shut up!"

"What's that?"

"Bye bye now!"

Things that made me laugh but weren't meant to be funny-

"He felt a mixture of anger and sadness inside him over this, a slight tug on his dead, motionless heart"- you know what or who I am referring to here Carla! (MEANIE I knew you'd write that!)

"Horrid creatures and God only knows what else in jars."- hehehehehe brain!

"Bite me…" sorta speaks for itself.

Things that I take full credit for (Through inspiring the author, giving suggestions or just because I'm a meanie head!) (Hmmm possibly the latter nicky!)

"Yes… yes I do"- if you don't remember that then I'm worried!

Draco Malfoy… I own him… he's mine! (0_0 no! mine!)

As for the chapter (eventually we get there!) in general, me likey! Just in case you've forgotten, let me remind you that if you don't use the box thing then you can rest knowing that I will kill you, painfully… probably. (0_o)

Well, that's me done. See ya!

Tricky Nicky

Xxx

PS- Well, you said you wanted a substantial review! At least I didn't just say "Eh" or anything… that woulda REALLY pissed you off! (Too right it woulda!) My fics are not as good as this! I must steal your brain! " (You do know I'll never sleep soundly again with the thought of you sneaking in and stealing my brain! That' it! No more sleepovers!)