Hell Tastes Sweet
Chapter Twelve
The battle lasted well into the night, at some point, the Dementors were almost winning the fight, mostly due to the fact that they outnumbered the staff to such an extent that Dumbledore and company found themselves surrounded by them most of the time.
They reached a turning point when the Aurors from the Ministry finally reached Hogwarts sometime in the early evening. After that, the Dementors were driven away with a relative ease.
Harry was left in charge of the Gryffindor Tower while the teachers were clearing up other parts of the castle.
At some point during the night, all students were called to gather in the Great Hall for an emergency meeting.
As soon as everyone was assembled in the castle's main room, Professor Dumbledore started to speak:
"Tonight something unexpected and unfortunate has happened. The Dementors' attack has been a clear declaration of war by the Dark Forces and we find ourselves in the need to take some measures to prevent these kind of things from happening again…as you all know, this term we had hired one of the best Aurors from the Ministry as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher: the real Alastor Moody."
Dumbledore paused briefly and then, seeing that everybody was paying the maximum attention, continued:
"However, tonight's events have made me decide that, in order to complement Professor Moody's teaching, I will step in as a trainer for some of you. I will be teaching you advanced defence techniques and, for his commitment to the cause and for his previous experience against the Dark Arts, I will ask Mr Harry Potter to assist me in this specific task. Unfortunately, and since we have very little time in our hands, we will have to limit the number of students who will follow this training and together with the school prefects and the Head Boy and Girl, just those students with a mark higher than Exceeds Expectations will be admitted to the training course."
As soon as he said this, all students started murmuring at each other. Some were shocked, some still too scared to think straight and a few were feeling excited…most of them were already members of the DA and were very sure that they would be picked to continue the training they had already started.
One that looked surprisingly pleased was Draco Malfoy. His usual smirk was more like a smile now and Pansy knew that whenever Draco smiled, something creepy was about to happen.
After the meeting, all students headed to their common rooms, Pansy and her group of followers were about to get down to the dungeons when Draco's voice called her name.
Pansy turned round and saw Draco gesturing her to follow him. Obviously, she didn't even hesitate to comply.
They walked again to the room where they had been right after he had come back from his mission.
The fireplace was still lit as if the room was used daily, now that Pansy came to think of it, Draco had probably found this room and was now using it as his private room…probably with Snape's consent.
Draco sat down on the couch near the fireplace and patted the space next to him.
"Sit down…I've got something to tell you…."
Pansy sat down immediately and was about to open her mouth to speak but Draco placed his left index finger over her lips and said:
"Shhh...Pansy, I'm going to be leaving tomorrow, I've just sent an owl to my Father and he will probably want to remove me from the school as soon as possible…."
Pansy felt a stabbing pain in her heart…she didn't want Draco to leave…it had been hard enough without him for just a couple of days…now he was talking about being removed from the school…
"Oh…don't worry, it'll be temporary…just a few weeks till his plans are put into action…then things will be a lot different and I will be able to come back to Hogwarts…" Draco said seeing the pain flashing briefly in Pansy's eyes.
"Dumbledore is actually playing the game we wanted, now all prefects will be trained by him, that over paranoid Auror and Potter. This way you'll be trained to fight against the Dark Arts…that's just perfect since then you'll be able to tell us what to expect from the students…"
"But…" Pansy said not understanding a single word of what Draco was saying.
"Let me finish…what I want you to do here is simple really…I need you to be my contact within Hogwarts, you'll report everything you do and everything you see…and…I will supply you with information that you'll have to give to Dumbledore. Originally, my Father wanted me to do this for him but, I've thought that, since Dumbledore has actually asked you to spy on us, he'll trust you a lot more…after all, it would be hard for him to believe I've suddenly seen the light and I now want to fight alongside him…and I will have much more important things to do now…"
"But Draco…do you think it'll work? I mean…I'm not sure they'll ever trust me…especially Granger…she hates me…" Pansy said now finally understanding Draco's plan.
"You still have better chances at it than me…after all, as far as the Ministry is concerned, your parents have stayed neutral during the whole thing…your only connection with the Dark side is me…with me gone, you'll have the freedom to choose which side you want to be in…" Draco said smirking again.
"Have I?" Pansy asked fearful.
"Have you what? Have the freedom to choose? Obviously…but I think it is pretty clear which side you're in…" Draco said arrogantly.
"Of course…yours…always yours…" Pansy said humbly.
"That's right…now, since this is probably the last night I spend in the castle…" Draco said before kissing Pansy on the side of her neck, just below her earlobe, something that Draco knew it completely made her lose her senses.
The day after, as Draco had predicted, Narcissa Malfoy came to the school demanding that her son left the school with her immediately.
She made a huge commotion out of the whole affair and soon there wasn't anyone in the school who didn't know about it.
That was probably the reason why when Draco Malfoy left the castle, the whole school was present…some Slytherin girls were on the verge of tears seeing their heartthrob leaving and Crabbe and Goyle looked like abandoned puppies.
One student was not there. Pansy couldn't bear to see him leave. She was just too heartbroken to say goodbye to him again.
After agreeing to be such an important part in Lucius Malfoy's plans, whichever those were, Pansy felt that she had never been so frightened in her life. Suddenly, she had been dragged in the middle of a fight that, by the looks of it, would end up as bad as it could ever get.
To be continued…
A/N: Aaah!!! I'm such a good girl…there you go another chapter, not even twenty four hours after I uploaded the previous one!! (I need to stop this senseless dribble…) In any case, I want to thank you for the support you're all giving to my little story. For the person who asked, Sonia's surname is not too important for the story since I actually made her up but, if you really need to know, it's Blackwell, Sonia Blackwell. I hope that makes you happy!!