The Serpent Act

 By Tanx

Chapter two

Draco yawned to himself as he turned over in his silky satin sheets. The night before had been one of great boredom and the only thing that had kept him interested was Harriet. Draco couldn't believe how happy he was to be home yet something made him want to be with her and hear her laugh again.

::FLASHBACK:: 'I'm Harriet . . .Harriet Moss of the Wilfordshire-Moss estate You must be Draco, right?' Said the pretty girl with the cat's eyes.

'Yes I'm Draco Malfoy, of the Malfoy estate.' Draco said, chuckling to himself.

Harriet did not laugh, she smiled sympathetically and Draco knew that they would not hit it off like he had intended.

Someone did laugh, however, and Draco noticed that there was a girl sitting beside Harriet that looked similar to her, yet slightly younger.

Harriet glanced at the girl and turned back to Draco.

'Oh.' She said miserably. 'Draco this is Jacinta, Jacinta-Draco. Jassie's my younger sister. She's fifteen years old and annoying.' She leaned in closer to him and whispered into his ear 'trust me, you don't want to get to know her . . .she's very, very bad.'

Draco smiled to himself like nothing had been said and shook hands with the pretty girl. She looked much like her sister, however her hair had a wavy texture and her face was slightly more tanned. Her eyes also resembled those of a cat. She had a small beauty spot above her chin and rosy red lips.

Jacinta was still laughing and when she saw her sister's blank look she laughed even harder.

::END FLASHBACK::

Draco laughed again at the memory. Of course the Malfoys had no 'estate' but his little one-liner had sure broken the ice and the younger girl was very appealing.

Just as Draco turned over onto his back he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his arm. This was the fourth time he'd felt that pain.

The silver-haired boy held up his arm outside the bed sheets and noticed once again that there seemed to be something dark under his skin, like a quill had stabbed him in the arm. It was not like ordinary ink, however. Draco could plainly see that the strange mark was green and glowed in the light of the moon. He had been shrugging it off for over a month now but it was no use . . .the Dark Mark was appearing on his arm and there was nothing he could do about it.

At that moment Draco heard something tapping repeatedly on the window. It was faint at first but no it was getting louder and more urgent. He raised his head from the pillow hesitantly and turned to see that an owl was the one doing the tapping and it had a large scroll of parchment held together with a red ribbon tied around its right foot.

Draco got up from his luxurious bed and opened the window. Instantly he felt a rush of cool air sweep into the room and he shivered as he let the large owl in.

As he rolled out the parchment he saw that the owl was waiting to be paid, so he gave it a sickle from his bedside table and off it went into the night sky, obviously not bothered to wait for a reply.

The boy gasped as he read the note which was written in shiny purple ink. It was as follows:

Draco,

Had a good time with you tonight. But didn't get to know you much, did I? I was talking with my sister and she said 'If you like him so much, why don't you tell him, I certainly don't,' so I decided to write you a letter.

Shall we meet again? This time maybe . . . alone?

Send a reply with Deckinghale, my owl.

Jacinta

Draco cursed to himself as he read that last bit about sending a reply. He would have to use his own owl, which was as old as his grandmother and was known for taking about seven hours to reach his destination.

He got out a piece of parchment and quill from his bedside draw and began to write a reply –

Jacinta,

I'm flattered but I'm not sure if that's the best idea, seeing as though your sister is the one I'm supposed to be marrying in a couple of years. However this does not mean I do not like you.

Unfortunately tomorrow I will be going back to school at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, but perhaps another time? I would very much like to meet with you alone and . . .

Draco screwed up his nose and in turn, scrunched up the piece of paper. He got out some more paper and started a new one –

Jacinta,

Yes, I would like to see you. I'm going back to school tomorrow but that hasn't ever stopped me.

Name a time and place and I'll see what I can do about meeting there.

I suggest the local wizarding village . . . . . . . . (A'N VERY IMPORTANT! Can't remember the name of the local village the students go to . . .what's it called?! If you review and let me know I'll give you a mention!!! End A/N) and we'll go from there.

Draco M.

Draco went to his old owl's cage and awoke the stupid bird. The unnamed owl, which had gone unnamed for over five decades, hooted miserably as Draco tied the parchment to his fragile leg. The owl hopped off the window sill and torpedoed downwards for a few metres, then regained its balance and soared slowly into the night air, occasionally doing the odd loop-de-loop until Draco could see him no more.

Draco sighed and crawled back into his bed which was now cold with the absence of its subject.

Tomorrow Draco would head back to school and he could forget about the mark and his father for a whole term until the next holidays when there would no doubt be more 'get togethers' and 'family functions' to attend.

One person he could not forget, however, was Jacinta. Perhaps he would actually meet up with her. . .then again, he probably wouldn't. She was entirely the wrong person he was supposed to be getting close to.

But her cute smile and long eyelashes stuck in his mind the whole night into his dreams . . .

End chapter two

Okay u know the deal! Review me, baby!

Next chapter will be good, promise. . .and you'll see some action in ther. (wink, wink.)

Ps: This is not all OC/DM . . .one of the reasons Dray can't get close to either of the Moss Sisters is because there's someone at school he's got his eye on . . .OOOOOOH!!!

Love ya still,

Tanx