Ch. 6 – Little Dragon

Draco made sure no one saw him dance in joy. He had wonderful, delightful, fantastic news ... and he knew there was someone who needed to hear it.

He knocked on the door of the House Mother's room and straightened his robe as he waited for her to answer.

Britomartis Vox appeared, filling the doorway with her beautiful figure and womanly curves.

"Professor Vox, I am pleased to tell you that I - Draco Malfoy - am the Slytherin Quidditch team's new Seeker."

Britomartis adjusted her sunglasses. "Congratulations, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure Madame Hooch saw a lot of talent in you."

"Madame Hooch?" he asked. "She had nothing to do with it. Professor Snape approved of my placement on the team."

She stared at him. He wondered what she was looking at - his fine blonde hair, his neatly pressed new robes, or the sleek Nimbus 2001 in his hand.

"He what?"

Draco smirked. "He really had no choice. My father had a nice talking to him, gave a gift of new brooms and new uniforms, and offered me as a Seeker." He smiled sweetly with a touch of arsenic around the edges. "As one of Slytherin House's former Quidditch players, I thought you would like to know."

Her mouth fell into a thinly-veiled frown. "I tried out and made it on the team due to talent and hard work, Draco. My parents never bought me my position."

Draco's smile faded. "You call yourself a Slytherin."

"I call myself honorable, young Malfoy." She leaned close. He could almost see the outline of her eyes through the sunglasses. "Being honest isn't limited to the Hufflepuff House - try it, you might like it. If you don't break out in a rash."

Draco said nothing as he turned around and stalked back to the boys' dorms.

* * *

Britomartis slammed open the door of Severus Snape's office. "WHAT IN AVERNUS DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING BY PUTTING MALFOY ON THE QUIDDITCH TEAM???"

Snape turned from the stained glass window of his packrat-designed office. "I had no choice, Spirals. Lucius forced me."

"How could he force you?" she ranted. "You're a grown man! He needs a kick in the goolies!"

Severus rushed to her, holding her face in his hands. "Martis, don't do this. He ... knows things that I have no control over. Letting Draco on the team is a very small price to pay."

She looked up at him, her sunglasses tinting his eyes to pitch black. Even through the barrier, she could see horrors passing his eyes in his memories.

"Great Mother ... Severus ... "

"Don't ask," he begged, his voice barely above a whisper. "Don't ask me. I can't taint you."

"Severus, please."

"No."

They gazed at each other, saying nothing, his hands holding her face.

Britomartis was surprised when Severus' lips descended on hers, kissing her harshly in unaccustomed affection. She brought her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She could feel the snake slip over her shoulder and around him as well, squeezing them together.

Severus snapped back, his eyes wide in shock and horror. He pulled away, reaching back to his desk to support himself. "Go," he ordered, his voice tinged with panic. "Go, Professor Vox. Don't come in here again."

"Severus - "

"Don't argue with me, woman! Leave me!"

Britomartis inhaled deeply, then picked up Snookie-poo and left his office in wordless silence.

* * *

Another attack. Another petrified victim.

Gilderoy Lockhart - the alleged Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor (aka to Slytherin House as 'Goldilocks Lunkhead') - had gathered students together in one of the lecture halls, proclaiming that the student body needed to protect themselves from the attacker.

Britomartis Vox watched the girl-children swoon and sigh as the man twirled about the platform, releasing his cape and sending it into the arms of a couple of his fangirls.

"What a pooftah," she sighed in disgust. Snookie-poo agreed with a quiet hiss. "I never heard of this piece of work until one of my sisters sent me one of his books for Christmas. From the picture, I thought it was a hairdressing guide."

Severus Snape almost cracked a smile. "Ever brutally honest, Professor Vox."

"Sorry, Professor Snape, but something about him screams 'cotton candy'."

"His hair."

She smirked. "Not everyone can have long, dark, gorgeous hair, Severus."

He returned the smirk. "Martis - "

"And assisting me is your own Professor Snape," Lockhart announced.

Severus' expression melted, returning to a bored frown, his whole body taking on the pose of Slytherin arrogance. He handed Britomartis his own robe and ascended the steps of the platform in his black buttoned-up coat and trousers. He stood on the end, sneering with every ounce of Slytherin pride and disregard for foppish theatrics.

"Don't worry," Lockhart lilted in fancy bravado to the students. "I will return your Potions Master to you when I'm through with him."

Both men met at the center of the platform formally, whipping their wands up to their faces and bowing. Spinning around (Severus' hair flying around his face - Britomartis noted at least two of the Slytherin upper-class girls sighing), the men paced off down the platform to assume their positions.

Both turned, arms raised, wands ready. Several females in the crowd moaned in awe; whether for Lunkhead or the Potions Master, Britomartis could not tell.

Lockhart began the count, "One ... Two ... Three ... "

Professor Snape attacked first: "EXPELLIARMUS!"

Gilderoy Lockhart was knocked off his feet by the force blast, landing on his backend at the end of the platform.

Slytherins cheered for their House Master. Britomartis nodded in approval.

Lockhart picked himself up, grinning, slightly battered. "There, you see. I was just showing you that I could have stopped Professor Snape any time I wanted to - "

Severus' cool detachment started to break. "Perhaps," the Potions Master intoned with all the lording a Slytherin could muster. "You should teach them blocking, first?"

He raised an eyebrow and gave a quick, smarmy smile.

"Right," Lockhart acknowledged, completely oblivious to the insult.

Two students were selected - Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter - and both climbed up on the platform. Draco made it a point to turn around and wink at Britomartis before going to the center of the walkway.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "What was that about?"

She shook her head, stroking Snookie-poo. "He had the nerve to be offended when I told him to be honest for once in relation to his Quidditch buy- out."

"He's a Malfoy; 'honest' is not in the family-approved dictionary. Probably would have an allergic reaction to the concept."

She giggled softly. "That's the old Snips I know."

The twelve-year-olds met in the middle, raised their wands and bowed formally, then paced back, assuming the same formal stances as the teachers.

"One ... Two ... "

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Draco shouted.

Harry Potter was slammed through the air, landing on the edge of the platform. Slytherins cheered again. Severus Snape applauded politely while Britomartis made an unladylike sound of displeasure. "No wonder we're called 'nasty little snakes'; I'd forgotten the dirty trick brigade."

Harry returned as good as he got: "RICTUS SEMPRA!"

Draco spun end over end to his end of the stage, landing flat on his skinny butt in front of Britomartis. He blushed a deep red just as Snape picked him up by the scruff of his neck and harshly set him up on his feet. Britomartis nodded her head a quarter of an inch while Snookie-poo flickered her tongue out in excitement.

Inspired, Draco swung his wand around: "SERPENTSAUCIER!"

A snake materialized and flew through the air toward Harry. The Gryffindor student got up, staring intensely at the snake as it slithered around.

Britomartis gritted her teeth. That was a cobra! The little snot Malfoy was turning a training exercise into a death match just to get her attention!

"I'll take care of it, Mr. Potter - " Severus began as he climbed on stage.

"No, I will," Lockhart interrupted. Severus yielded and allowed the DADA instructor to do so.

The cobra was flipped up into the air, landing on the platform with a thud and much more irritated than it originally was, threatening to lunge into the crowd of students.

"Martis," Severus said. "Do something!"

"What?" she asked. "I don't speak Parsel-tongue!"

And suddenly, both heard the language itself being spoken. They looked up, seeing young Harry Potter staring transfixed at the snake as it threatened one student, the rare language spouting from his mouth.

Britomartis glanced at her familiar, seeing Snookie-poo enraptured by the voice, stirring in hypnotic trance.

"'The heir of Slytherin shall speak Parsel-tongue - '

He ceased the language. Severus rushed on the platform and called a burning spell to be rid of the cobra, burning it to ashes.

Harry looked around at his fellow students. "What?" he asked.

Britomartis Vox and Severus Snape's gazes made him turn away, leaving the group with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

"Great Mother," Britomartis whispered. "Could it be?"

Severus swallowed. "Pray for the school that he is not. That boy's more potentially dangerous than anybody knows."

• * *