2 chapters in the same day! I might write all night, since I know you people are hatin' me right about now. Oh well. Off to the discussion. J Gotta love 'em.
Ron: Dude, where the hell is Draco and Herms? If they come in here now, they'll get detention for sure!
Harry: I have no idea, but I hope they're all right. 'Mione seemed really worried before she left.
Ron: Did you see Snape's face when he saw the back of her head turn the corner? It was like he was going to faint and yell at her at the same time.
Harry: Well, it's not really everyday you take witness to Hermione actually skipping class, Ron.
Ron: I know, but… Hey, Harry? Is that you poking me?
Harry: Err… No, why?
Ron: Oh my god! Someone is poking my butt!!
Harry: Uh, Ron? Turn around.
Ron: turns around to come face to face with a blushing… SEAMUS!!
Seamus: waves in a girly manner Hi, Ronnikins.
Ron: turns to Harry Pumpkin Pasties… Pumpkin Pasties… PUMPKIN PASTIES!!!!
Harry: smiles Ron, we just ate. It hasn't been 5 hours, yet.
Chapter 13
I ran through the halls as fast as I could; half-worried about Draco, the other half about missing one of my classes. Okay okay. More worry about Draco, but still it's Potions and Snape hates me, but he hates everybody, well, maybe except for Draco, but Draco isn't even in class for Snape to like right now and I'M RAMBLING AGAIN!!! Come on, 'Mione! Focus! I came to the Colorful pig portrait.
"Password?" the pig said while eating from its pail of food.
"Ugh, you're just like Ron! Oh yeah, BREAD LOAF!" Hermione screamed as the portrait opened and she jumped through the portrait hole to a sight she didn't want to see in this lifetime.
I got out of the shower, towel-dried myself, and combed my hair. After getting dressed and brushing my teeth, I exited the blue bathroom to gather my books in my room. I entered my room and dropped to my knees to pick the books that had fallen from my bed and that I needed for the day.
"Let's see… Transfiguration… Herbology… Care of Magical Creatures… and… Oh what else do I have today?" I questioned myself. I mean, I should know this, every Monday I have the same classes so I should know this. Then my answer came, but not from my own lips.
"Potions," my Father's voice rang throughout the room. Uh oh. That's definitely not good.
"So, son," he never calls me son, "how have you been? Have you been happy lately?" I told you it wasn't good. He said happy as if it were a swear word he vowed himself never to speak. Actually I've never ever heard my father say the word happy before. I think he's on drugs. Ok, back to my all mighty father.
"No, Father, I have been exceedingly miserable these past days," I said obediently. Contorted rage took over the fake smiling face of my father. He usually looks like this when he tortures muggles in our basements. He has never used this face while looking at me. Never.
"LIES, I SAY! LIES!!" He screamed and tackled me with one of his fists. It collided with the side of my jaw, as I felt it bruise. His wand lay on the floor, which gave me an idea. I started to inch toward it, but Father caught me before I could come within 5 feet of it.
"First, you lie to me, now you are turning against me?!" he said, picking up his wand and looking at it menacingly. Then, he smiled; a cruel smile. Shit.
"This means you will be punished, my dear Draco. And the best part? No one will ever know it was me, your loving and caring father. It will be like I was never here." I could tell he was making up his plan as he talked. But a glint in his eyes told me he had already decided on one part of his plan before I had entered my room.
"Come with me, Draco, or your new friends will never see the light of day." Lucius sneered. So far, I knew, he knew I had befriended people not in the Slytherin house and it had lifted my spirits. The fact that he didn't know who my new friends were, helped me more than you could ever imagine. If my father ever knew I was friends with the Golden Trio, he would… well, you know what he'd do to them and I couldn't risk him knowing anytime soon. I had no choice, but to follow him out into the common room. Then, I saw something I hadn't seen before. More like someone. Justin was stunned and lying on the floor holding his Arithmancy book in his right hand. I figured Father had stunned him while I was in the bathroom and put him part-way under the table, so I wouldn't notice him and get suspicious. I stood just outside my door watching my father. He walked over to the table and looked down on the boy.
"I found this one picking up his books, Draco. He will help me in your punishment. This one never saw me coming, which is highly ridiculous, since I knocked over that plant over there." He said pointing in the direction of a blue shattered vase, dirt, and crumpled marigolds on the floor. By the way, my father is, indeed, a klutz. Yeah, the Death Eater thing might throw you off, but seriously. At my fifth birthday party, he was the one who jumped up, yelled, "SURPRISE!!" and fell off the balcony into our huge pool. Death Eater. Riiiiiiiight. I snapped out of my thoughts to see my father had un-stunned Justin, sat him in a chair holding his own wand, and stunned him again. Justin was facing the open window and balcony. My father jumped back into the room pulling apart the curtains, so I caught a glimpse of a plank tied to the balcony rail, like a pirate's plank.
"So, Draco, here's the plan. You stand here and that's it. Well, what are you waiting for, boy! Get over here!!" Lucius bellowed at me. I felt my feet shuffle to the spot where he pointed, which was a couple of feet in front of Justin's stunned form. Lucius smiled. No, he actually attempted to smile, but it turned out looking like an evil pumpkin at Halloween. Hey, we have Halloween, too. Anyways… I stood facing the open window. I could sense my father behind me, but I had no idea what he was doing. I heard him un-stun Justin and another spell was said, but it wasn't at me. It was at Justin. I turned just enough to see what had happened to him. I almost crapped myself.
Justin was still sitting in the chair, but now, instead of the usual blue in his eyes, both of his eyeballs were entirely black. He was wearing an evil smirk identical to my father's, who was standing behind him with his wand also raised. I recognized the spell as the Imperious Curse. Which, in my case, wasn't very good. I turned back around to face the window, so my father wouldn't think I had seen a thing. I was far more scared than I was before. Now my father could do anything to me and make it look like it was an accident. Justin was in Hufflepuff, therefore, he probably doesn't know any Dark Art's spells. And now since he was being possessed, he wouldn't remember what Lucius had done to him.
"There. Now, Draco, I hope this little punishment of yours whips you back into line. You have gone so soft since you left home. You haven't said a word to me. Say something, my son." Lucius sneered in my ear. By now, I had convinced myself that I was going to die at the hands of a Hufflepuff prefect. Helped greatly by my own father; my flesh and blood, the person who was actually laughing when he fell off the balcony at my fifth birthday. Boy, I hate my life. I stood there never moving and always looking straight out the window. The sun was starting to look about 10:00 A.M. or so. At least one of the other prefects would find my slaughtered corpse when lessons were out. Imagine the look on their faces. What about Hermione? What would she do when she saw my lifeless bidy lying the black carpet with a pool of blood around my form. I'll admit, I had started to like Hermione more and more ever since she and I became real friends on the first day of school. I hadn't stopped it. I didn't even think twice about the feeling I got whenever she walked into the room. It seemed like the sun would come out on a rainy and cloudy day when her feet touched the floor. You could see the happiness dance in her eyes as she laughed or the worrying expression that graced her features when something was wrong. I was going to miss her. I knew it when I first realized the feeling of a crush developing on my behalf, but I knew I could never have her, so I began to miss her immediately. I couldn't have her because of our different backgrounds. Because I was destined to be on the Dark side and her on the Light. Because of things like this! My father punishing me without mercy in all his glory. It made me sick.
"Nothing? No back talking? No begging for mercy?" Lucius's brownish-green eyes, full of evil, stared into my grey emotionless ones. He cackled.
"Until we meet again, Draco!" He said in a booming voice. I heard a loud pop, and then silence. Until I heard a soft laugh behind me. I realized Justin was still there and still under the Imperious Curse.
"Imperio." He whispered. I felt my body tingle and a voice in the back of my head.
"Walk out onto the balcony… Walk out onto the balcony…"
"Why would I do that? Also why am I reasoning with a random voice in my head? Stupid Imperious Curse. Okay, fine, I'll walk onto the stupid balcony. No need to beg. Well, goodbye, Hermione." My inner voice gave up on fighting the stupid curse as I felt my feet walk onto the stone surface of the balcony. It was a little chilly from the slight wind that blew the hair out of my eyes.
"Now get onto the plank… Get onto the plank, Draco…"
"Okay," My mind answered. I knew I could fight it, but I knew when Justin realized I wasn't under the curse, he would just torture me. Which leads me to the choice of, Which is better? Being controlled to stand on a plank by a fellow possessed prefect or being tortured until I have no memory of anything that has happened in the last 5 years? Hmmm. Let's think, now. I think I'll take the first one. I climbed up onto the edge of the plank and felt it creak under the added weight, but I was sure it could hold me.
"Walk… Walk…Walk to the edge of the plank…"
I walked to the end of the plank, where it sunk lower by the compared weight from where I was standing before. I had no idea what the next command would be. I mean, the only thing that could come next is me jumping off. No big deal.
"Stand on one foot… Go ahead, you know you want to…"
Dude, who in their right mind, non-possessed in this case, would want to stand on one foot at the end of a flimsy board attached to balcony railing 3 stories up? That would be my mind.
Okay, back to me. Like I said, I burst into the common room and saw something I never wanted to see in my entire life. Draco was standing on his left foot at the very edge of a plank. Justin was holding a wand to control Draco, with the Imperious Curse I expect, which was very unusual. Justin doesn't even know how to pronounce that spell. I know that for a fact, since I tried to teach it to him to use against Death Eaters in the coming war, but he was too scared to even say the incantation. There was no way that Justin would perform the curse by his own free will and especially on a fellow student, I mean… Hang on a second… Is that a red aura around Justin? I walked a little closer as not to attract attention. A red aura meant there was a powerful curse on the person, but it was being cast from a distance. Well, that's a little obvious, we're the only people in here! How could I get the curse off of Justin without Justin dropping Draco? If Draco is on the edge of… Oh my god. HE'S GOING TO TRY AND KILL HIM!! SHIT!!!! I walked quickly towards the portrait hole, and still Justin didn't notice as I scrambled out and started to run towards the main entrance. It was just the end of first period and all the classes were being dismissed and dispersing into the hallways. How am I going to get there without being held up? Oh damn manners all together.
"OUT OF MY WAY, PEOPLE!! GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!" I screamed pushing through the crowd and past the dungeons. I could just see the big oak doors up ahead of me. Then I saw Harry and Ron climbing the stairs from the Snape's class.
"Oh my god! You guys… follow me! Hurry!" Hermione yelled as she ran past them. Luckily, they heard her and followed after her trying to keep up. They were outside, now, on the west side of Hogwarts. Hermione stopped and looked up. Harry and Ron arrived by her side panting and holding their sides.
"'Mione… What's gotten into you?" Harry panted, clutching a stitch in his side. Ron doing the same said,
"Yeah, Herms, I mean you were… Oh my god, Harry, LOOK!" Ron bellowed the last part, while looking up to get a better glimpse. Harry followed his and Hermione's line of sight. There he was, Draco, in all his glory, standing on one foot ready to jump off of what looked like a badly built diving board.
"Hey, 'Mione? Uh, does Draco know there's not a body of water underneath him?" asked Harry. Hermione looked worried and terrified.
"Harry, he's under the Imperious Curse by Justin, or some unknown distant sourse!" Hermione yelled, half to Harry, but half to Draco since she was already looking up at him.
"So, why are we out here?" Ron asked.
"In case he falls," Hermione said in a determined voice. Harry and Ron looked at each other, then back up at Draco. How could you break a curse when the caster is miles away?