Ms. CE – yes, Ron is your typical clueless male. Poor Ron. Heh heh heh. I think he's going to have to go through quite a learning curve before he 'gets' girls. And Cara? The battle with her and Draco is just beginning…
Shahrezad1 - *falling on your neck in tearful relief* You found me! Oh, joy, rapture, rejoicing… *big toothy grin* As I said above, the games are just beginning for Cara and Draco, and future chapters might get a bit of a twist to them…. Hee hee.
Everyone else reading – Review please! Many thanks.
Chapter 5Draco resisted the urge to beat his head against the stone wall of the dungeon classroom. Merlin, the girl was a moron. She'd confused blubberpus and dragon scales, used a wooden spoon when he'd specifically told her a silver one, and added wood when he'd told her to bank the fire. She'd said, with big eyes, that she thought he'd said to build the fire, and how was she supposed know, they were both 'b' words? Didn't 'bank' have to do with money?
Bloody stupid Gryffindors… he thought, savagely, as he carefully copied the clean draft of his own potion proposal. He kept one eye on the girl who was absently stirring the cauldron.
"The other left, McDouglas, stir to the other left," he growled at her, his patience just about exhausted.
"Oops!" the moron chirped, yes, chirped. She promptly switched hands and continued to stir in the same direction.
Draco shoved up from the table in one frustrated move. "Dammit, girl, do you have any brains whatsoever?" he barked, taking two strides over to her. He reached down and grabbed her hand holding the spoon in his. "STIR the other way!"
As he forcibly attempted to correct her, the idiot's eyes narrowed and she jerked her hand away. Some of the liquid flew off the end of her spoon and into the air. Draco hissed in pain as a few drops splattered against where he'd pushed up the arms of his robes, but his attention was focused on his neat stack of parchment. He watched in horrified fury as the liquid, generously coating his neat and nearly completed proposal fizzled and began to disintegrate the parchment.
"You incompetent twit," he gritted out, gripping her hand tighter and yanking her about to face him. "You've ruined hours of work."
The girl was glaring at him, with suddenly no sign of the moronic blankness that had been apparent for the past two hours. "I'M the idiot?" she hissed at him. "You rat-faced snake-loving prat of a Slytherin…"
Draco's face tightened at the insults, and then a light clicked in his head. "You've been faking," he said, cold fury lacing his voice, sending the temperature in the room to sub-artic levels.
"Oh, please, I don't know what a dragon scale is…" she cooed, batting her eyes at him, even as they glittered with anger.
Almost involuntarily, Draco tightened his grip on her hand as he registered the fact that he had just wasted two hours of his evening playing this girl's game. "You…" he said in a near whisper, even as her hand twitched in his.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Malfoy?" came a soft voice from the doorway. Draco didn't move, except to release the girl's hand. He watched with hard eyes as she unconsciously flexed it.
"No, Professor," he said in response. "Merely Miss McDouglas has spent the past two hours playing some sort of game, rather than using the time for which it was intended."
He heard the soft shuffle of Professor Stone's footsteps as she came closer, but didn't take his eyes from the girl glaring up at him. "Miss McDouglas?" Professor Stone asked.
"He's insulted my intelligence at every opportunity, Professor," the girl said, not budging an inch. Fool. "From the first minute, he's treated me like a nitwit and made it perfectly obvious that I'm a waste of his oh-so-precious time."
"And you are, you pathetic little…" Draco growled, furious that this small Griff would dare talk to him that way.
"Mr. Malfoy," Professor Stone's voice stopped him. Barely. "Miss McDouglas." She stopped next to the two of them. Draco could feel her regard weighing heavy on his face. Damn it all. "I asked you to serve as a tutor, Mr. Malfoy," she said quietly, "because I felt you not only had the knowledge necessary to do so, but because I felt you possessed the maturity and intelligence to truly handle the job." The girl smirked up at him, and Draco narrowed his eyes at her, even as a flicker of guilt burned inside him. So he had treated the girl like the imbecile she was. She'd yet to prove him wrong.
"Miss McDouglas." Now it was his turn to smirk, as Professor Stone's all-too-knowing gaze swung back to the girl. "I have given you a tutor in an effort to allow you a way to bolster your grade in the class, to gain the help you do need." She regarded the two of them. "You have both disappointed me."
McDouglas finally looked away from Draco, taking a step back and turning to face their professor. "I'm sorry, ma'am," she said, looking up at the older woman. Draco watched here narrowly. Sneaky, ungrateful little priss… "You're right. I got carried away with getting back at him," she jerked her head in his direction and Draco glared. "It won't happen again. I promise," she said.
Professor Stone pursed her lips as she regarded the girl, and then nodded. She looked at Draco expectantly.
Bloody hell, he thought. He took a short breath. "I apologize," he said through his teeth. "I will endeavor to do a better job, Professor."
She watched him for a second, dark eyes assessing him. Merlin, could she read minds, he wondered briefly? He knew Snape had been teaching Professor Stone some new tricks… "Draco," she said in a calm voice, "to teach is to truly succeed. You do not know something until you have guided someone else to know it in turn." Draco blinked. Whatever she'd been going to say, he hadn't expected that. Her face was soft and serious, and made something soften inside himself in response. "I believe you can be extraordinary, Draco, and not merely at Potions."
That said, she turned back to McDouglas, and Draco felt more like himself as he noted and enjoyed the girl's discomfort. "Cara, please clean this up, and come prepared to make a new start tomorrow night." The girl nodded, respectfully, he was forced to admit, and turned to the cauldron. Professor Stone looked over at him. "Draco, help her," she said quietly. Draco got the distinct impression that she wasn't merely talking about the mess. He gave a stiff nod.
Professor Stone limped off in the direction of her office as Draco turned to the mess the moron had made. The girl had made, he corrected himself with a sneer. She was currently adding baking soda to the cauldron in an effort to neutralize the acidity before disposing of the contents.
They worked in silence for several minutes, Draco still furious with the girl over her little game. No one made a fool of him. He didn't allow it. And yet this small Gryffindor had played him for nearly two hours, merely because he'd allowed her to fulfill his expectations. So he cleaned and fumed as he did.
The silence was finally broken by the girl. "You're a jerk, but I'm still sorry I played around like that," she said from behind him. Draco stiffened but did not say anything. He wasn't sure he should do so, not when Professor Stone was still within hearing range. "Look, I'll tell you what. You stop calling me an idiot, and I'll stop being a… well, I'll stop with the games. And don't imply things, either." She appeared to be waiting for him to say something, but Draco merely continued tidying the workspace. Let her prattle on. He wasn't going to waste his time.
"Merlin," she hissed between her teeth. "I'm sorry about your papers, ok? And I'll help you fix them sometime if you like. Meanwhile, let's just call truce and get on with it." There was the clanking sound of her setting the cauldron in the cupboard, and then the door of the cabinet swinging shut.
He ignored her as she walked up to where he stood, gathering his papers. "Bloody hell, you're an ass," she said in front of him. "Truce, and I'll see you same time tomorrow night." With that, she whirled on her heel and stomped off out of the room.
Draco continued to methodically attempt to save the fragments of his Potions proposal as he stood in the silent room. Gradually he became aware of another presence. He looked with cold eyes up and around, zeroing in quickly on where the Potions Master stood, half in the shadows of the doorway to his office. "Sir," he said, jerking his head in acknowledgement of his Head of House.
Snape stood and surveyed him with fathomless eyes. If Draco was honest with himself, he would admit that Professor Snape was one of the few people he both feared and respected. The man possessed an awesome amount of knowledge, dark and light, and had the fierceness and cunning to use it. Furthering Draco's respect, was the knowledge that Snape had had the backbone to stand alone against the Dark, even when his life was on the line.
After several long, painful moments of the tall dark wizard watching him with those almost frightening eyes, he finally spoke. "Disappoint Professor Stone," he said, voice low and soft and utterly sincere, "and I will ensure you do not leave at the end of term intact." From anyone else, Draco would have sneered and laughed at an empty threat, but from Snape… it made his bones chill.
He jerked his head. "Sir," he said in response. He left unspoken the fact that he would sooner do the proposed dismemberment himself than fail the one person who truly believed in him.
Snape's eyes were cool and remote and far too seeing. "Finish and get to your dormitory," he said. He turned and strode silently toward the closed office door of Professor Stone, and Draco paused for just a moment to watch as the Potions Master stepped inside.
For a moment, something wistful laced through him. Snape had found something extraordinary in his fellow professor. Draco had seen, in rare unguarded moments, the older man look at his Professor. Snape looked at Sonora Stone as if his entire world hung in her hands, as if her simply drawing breath made living worthwhile. And she… she did not bother to hide her affection for him. It simply breathed from her.
For that one moment, Draco closed his eyes and wished for someone who would look at him the way Professor Stone did at Professor Snape. It was weak, and he regretted allowing the thought to form a moment later, but for that one moment he admitted there was nothing in the world he craved so intently.
Then he took a deep breath and pushed the weak thought away. He sneered once more at the remnants of his proposal, tucking them carefully away into his bookbag. He had no illusions about finding someone as miraculous as Professor Stone for himself. And consequently, it was far better for him to focus on what he could do. He smiled coldly as he made his way from the dungeon classroom toward the Slytherin common room. And he could plan on making a certain Gryffindor pay for making him the fool.
**********
Cara was carried by pure undiluted anger all the way back up to Gryffindor Tower, and into the common room. "Aaaahhh!!" she shouted as she approached the couch where Ginny was sitting hunched over a textbook.
Ginny jumped and stared up at her. Cara flung her bookbag on the floor and dropped heavily onto the couch beside her friend.
"Oh dear," Ginny said, sounding just the tiniest bit amused. "It didn't go well?"
Cara scowled at the floor and crossed her arms. "Bloody stupid mean git," she muttered.
"And you just realized this?" her friend said dryly. Cara shot her a glare. "Sorry, sorry," Ginny said, holding her hands up in surrender. "Ah, want to talk about it?"
Cara humphed. "No," she said. Ginny nodded and flipped a page in her text and appeared to read. She finished the page and shot a gaze out of the corner of her eyes at Cara, before licking one finger and carefully turning another page.
"He told me a cauldron was the round metal thing with a handle!" Cara burst out. "And that I couldn't dance! And then Professor Stone yelled at us and I felt really bad and dammit I offered to help him fix his stupid paper!"
"Wait, you were dancing?" Ginny asked, dropping the book on the floor and turning to face her. Cara rolled her eyes. Trust Ginny to seize on the least important element.
"I didn't know he was there," she said impatiently. "I'm telling you, he treated me like I was just barely able to dress myself!"
"Back to the dancing thing," Ginny said. "What kind of dancing?"
Cara scowled. "Something one of my cousins showed me," she mumbled.
Ginny's eyes lit up. "Ooh! That move you taught us last year?" she asked. Cara nodded, just now realizing how humiliating the whole thing had been. "Wow," Ginny breathed. "And Draco Malfoy saw you doing that?"
Cara groaned and dropped her head back against the couch. "You're not helping," she said pitifully.
"Sorry," Ginny said, sounding totally fascinated and completely insincere. "So then what happened?"
Cara cleared her throat. "Ah… I kind of… decided to play up to his expectations," she admitted. And then giggled. It HAD been darned funny, she thought, slowly driving him up the wall by playing the ditz.
Ginny made a sound in her throat. "You pretended you were stupid?" she asked. Sounding, again, waaaaay too fascinated.
"Yeah. And he kept saying snarky things to me, so I just kept doing, until he finally told me to stir the other way, and so I switched hands rather than directions, and he came over and grabbed my hand to try and make me do it right, and the potion splattered and then it…"
"He grabbed your hand?" Ginny interrupted. Cara rolled her head to one side to see her friend's jaw about on the floor.
She glared. "Yes. Slimy git," she said. Surprisingly strong slimy git, she thought, a little disconcerted by her wandering thoughts.
"Wow," Ginny said, eyes big and wide. "I don't think I've seen Malfoy actually reach out and touch someone, for anything, for forever."
Cara snorted. "He was really pissed off by that point," she mumbled. And then grinned. Which had been exactly her intention.
"So then what?" Ginny asked. "You said something about his papers…"
Cara cringed. "The potion kind of splattered and got on some stuff that he'd been working a long time on, and then he got really mad." Remembering, she flexed the hand he'd gripped and winced.
Ginny reached out and caught it in one of her own hands, examining Cara's fingers. "I think you're going to have bruises," she said seriously, no longer looking amused and fascinated.
Cara bit her lip and sighed. "It's not that bad," she said. "Really. And to be honest, I probably deserved it." Ginny glared at her at that, and so Cara amended her words. "Ok, I deserved him getting mad, but not the sore hand."
Her friend nodded. "Ok." She let go of Cara's hand and sat back a little. "So then what?"
Cara sighed. "Professor Stone came in, and made us both apologize. We're supposed to start fresh tomorrow." Ginny pursed her lips and regarded her with a thoughtful look. Cara knew that look. That look usually meant Cara had blue hair or shortened skirts or something else waiting in her future. "What?" she asked, with no small amount of unease.
Ginny gave her a smirk. "Nothing," she said, and reached down for her textbook again. "Just curious about how tomorrow will go."
Cara gave her a wary look. She'd have to watch her back now, thanks to Ginny and that damn look. She grumbled a little before heaving herself up off the sofa. She'd have a shower and maybe work a bit on that Defense essay that was due at the end of the week. Grabbing her bookbag, she headed for the stairs, passing the corner of the room where Ginny's brother and his friends were sitting. They were huddled together as if discussing something serious, and Cara wondered what was up with them. Then she started up the steps to the dormitories and that hot shower. She could use some chocolate, too.