Today was the day! Hermione woke up and was so excited envisioning her OWLs results in her hand that the first thing she shouted at the top of her lungs was: "Oh! Look everyone, OWL results arrived!" She couldn't believe she had said that out loud.
Hermione's shout was so loud it was heard from Ron and Harry's across the hall. Really she should contain herself but who would blame her for her excitement. It was only the most important day in their entire lives. These results would determine everything. Enough O's and she could probably take any Pre Newts Advanced class she liked leading on to actual Newt's classes and then to the Newts and then to apprentice ship offers and eventually a good job and, oh God, her absolute entire life depended on those results! Hermione bounded out of bed intent on waking Ron and Harry so that they could share her excitement. Ron was first and as she stood in her boyfriend's doorway she saw that he was already up. Excellent.
"Hermione what was that noise..." Asked Ron sounding very sleepy. "Was that you?"
Hermione blushed, "I, well I was just saying OWL's results arrived."
"That's nice." Ron put his head under the pillow. Hm, maybe not so excellent.
"RON! Wake up." Hermione rushed over to Ron's bed and threw the covers away from him; he hugged his pillow and curled his feet under himself in response. Hermione jumped on the bed and pulled his pillow away. "RONALD WEASLEY! WAKE. UP. THIS. INSTANT!" Hermione bounce on her boyfriend's bed with each word and shook his shoulders frantically.
"Fine! I'm up, I'm up." Yawning wide and rubbing his eyes Ron slowly sat up, satisfied she sprung off his bed and onto Harry's prepared to do the same thing to him if he didn't wake up.
"Harry! Did you hear me? OWL's results arrive this morning!"
Harry made a strange gurgling nose and burrowed under his covers.
"Wake up!" Hermione grabbed Harry around the waist and hauled him off the bed. Poor Harry was groping around the floor for something and knowing instantly what he wanted Hermione snatched his glasses off the nightstand and threw them down to Harry then ran out of the room and down the stairs hoping both boys had done the sensible thing and followed after her.
"Mrs. Weasley, are my results here?" She called from the hall before she had even reached the kitchen.
"Yes dear, right at your seat." Mrs. Weasly said absentmindedly as she prepared an absolute feast.
Hermione careened into the kitchen and almost ran strait into the food-laden table. "Now we'll wait for Ron and Harry and then you can all tell me how many O's you got and then we'll have your celebration breakfast."
Hermione scanned the piles of food and like a missile targeting system her eyes instantly locked onto the manila envelope sealed with the purple ministry crest. "It's here." She said reverently, barely above a whisper. Hermione approached the table slowly, her hand held out eager to grasp the envelope that held information her entire life hinged on.
"Morning mum."
"Morning Mrs. Weasly."
Harry and Ron entered the kitchen, eyes half lidded and one foot still in dreamland.
"Whoa!" Ron was the first to notice all the food. Sausage, piles of Bacon, Four types of eggs, a variety of warm muffins, glasses of milk and juice, omelets, pancakes, gourmet coffee, waffles, Danishes, cinnamon roles, fruit, hash browns, and biscuits were spread out on the table and Mrs. Weasley was still cooking more.
"Wow Mrs. Weasley, is all this for us?" Harry asked disbelievingly, seriously, sometimes Harry could be so adorable.
"Only if you get at least three O's each." Mrs. Weasley smiled a very motherly smile at the two boys. A smile that said if they displeased her this was the last food they'd be seeing for a long while. "But I'm sure you did wonderfully in all your subjects, just like Hermione." Mrs. Weasley turned the motherly smile to Hermione.
"Well, I haven't seen what I got yet." Hermione looked down at the envelope resting just inches away from her grasp. "Maybe I should wait for my parents..."
"Come on Hermione, let's see what records you broke this year." Harry said smiling at her with a sleepy sort of look still in his eyes. Harry pulled out his chair and plopped down taking up his envelope and tearing it open. How could he be so calm about this? How could he just sit down and open his results like that? This was the most important time of their lives and Hermione was absolutely petrified to see her scores.
"Uh – I, well you see, I really should wait for my parents and, um."
"Pumpkin!" Hermione's father called to her from to entrance followed shortly by her mother.
Hermione was swept up into a big bear hug by her father and kissed on the cheek by her mother.
"Darling, tell us how you did, I know these results are very important. It's just like regular school, your grades will affect everything and your father and I are just dieing to congratulate you."
"Mother, Father, Thank you but um – could I, possibly – How did you even know? "
"Well we heard all that racket you were making this morning and obviously it was – "
"Hey!" Harry's excited outburst broke into Mrs. Granger's sentence. "I did loads better than I thought I would."
Ron immediate looked over Harry's shoulder reading his grades. "Good going mate! Fuck Harry, you got an O in potions!"
"Ronald Weasley! You most certainly are not allowed to use such language! Oh, congratulations Harry!" Mrs. Weasly said to him, doing a complete one eighty and then enveloped Harry in a crushing hug.
"What?" Harry struggled under Mrs. Weasley's affections and brought the sheet closer to his bespectacled face and scrutinized the parchment. "That's not right, did they mix up my scores?"
"No, that's your name up there, see." Ron pointed to something on the form and Harry seemed to agree that yes, it was his name.
"Hm, I guess I did get an O then." Harry smiled boyishly. "It says I got an E on the Essay section, because I didn't exactly finish all the questions and then I got a Perfect O on the practical. I guess I'm pretty good at potions when Snape's not there leaning over my shoulder like a hawk."
"Yeah, either that or it's a really bad joke." Ron laughed.
"And what did you get on your potions OWL Ron?" Mrs. Weasly asked her youngest son with a sweet smile on her warm face.
"I'll just go and see then shall I. If Harry got an O I must be getting one to. Wow, if Harry got a Perfect O they must have extended the grading scale to show just how well Hermione did." Ron sauntered around the table and passed Hermione. "Congratulations 'Mione." He said and pecked her on the cheek as he passed.
"But Ron, I haven't, and I don't think –" But Ron wasn't listening to her so she gave up.
Ron paused before opening his own envelope. He must be nervous like Hermione, she wasn't the only one freaking out, and it's only natural. Hermione chanced a quick glance at her yet to be opened envelope and paled. Only natural.
Ron shrugged and ripped open his seal pulling out the folds of paper forms. Slowly he skim through the other scores to find the potions results. "Damn." Ron said disappointedly. "I only got a P"
"What score is that?" whispered in her daughter's ear.
"A is Acceptable. Then there's E, exceeds expectations, and then there's O, outstanding, and above that is Perfect O for getting no points taken off, but below all that is P for poor and then D for dreadful. Anything P and over is passing but you need at least an O or sometimes an E to get into NEWTS classes."
Through all this time Mrs. Weasley was simmering and when she finally boiled over it was not going to be good for her youngest son. "Ron!" Bellowed Mrs. Weasley as soon as Hermione had finished her hurried explanations. "I can't believe you! How in the world could you barely pass that exam?" Mrs. Weasly looked at her son incredulously.
"Ron," Harry asked hesitantly. "The essay portion was on Polyjuice, how much easier can you get?"
"I didn't get the essay on Polyjuice I got the other one on the Draught of Peace but I forgot to study that potion because it was from the beginning of the year." Ron explained in a hurry quickly glancing at Hermione apologetically. She had specifically told him that that potion could be on the exams. "At least it wasn't a D, it's still passing."
"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasly shouted at him.
"Mum I did fine on everything else! Listen" Ron read down the results page. "Charms A, astronomy A but that doesn't really count because the exam got cut short! Divination O, hey look at that! Care of Magical creatures Perfect O, see mum it's getting better uh... Defense against the dark arts O, Transfiguration A, Herbology E, and history of Magic... uh well that class doesn't matter much dose it? Ha HA!" Ron laughed and folded up the peaces of parchment. "See that, three Os. Pretty good I'd say."
"Three O's is wonderful Ron but you're taking nine subjects and you received a P in a core class as well as a P, I presume, in History of magic because it better not be a D! Not to mention that you missed NEWTS requirements for three core classes and that is a shock. You are a prefect! I expected more of you and Divination doesn't count when searching for a job!" Mrs. Weasly began shaking her kitchen spoon at Ron threateningly. "How are you supposed to get a good job with only taking TWO core Newts exams?"
Ron gave an exasperated sigh. "I don't know! I guess I'll just join Charley in Romania and heal dragons with herbs, then I can tell them their future by star charts while fending off the vampires that's what! Honestly Mum I got three O's and more OWLS than the twins and even their doing fine. Merlin they didn't even finish school! They didn't take any NEWTS and they own their own shop in Diagon Alley. I really don't need another two years of Snape's hatred to get along in life."
"Fred and George are different – very different. I expected more from you Ronald, seeing you as a prefect last year and everything."
"Mum I'm not Charley or Bill or Percy!" Mrs. Weasly flinched at the mention of her third son and Hermione wondered what had happened to him. "Maybe Ginny can get perfect OWLs for you next year and I'm sure I'll do fine with taking four Newts courses. Harry what were the rest of your scores? Potions must be a total fluke."
"Uh," Harry began. "Fine Ron."
"Don't you try to change the subject Ron! You'll be hearing more on this later young man! Just you wait until your father hears of this!" Mrs. Weasley turned to Harry her entire demeanor had changed. "Sorry for interrupting you, Go on Harry do tell us what you got dear."
"Oh, no problem Mrs. Weasly..." Harry ran down the same list as Ron. "Potions O, Charms E, Transfigurations E, Defense Against the Dark Arts Perfect O" Mrs. Weasly was visibly calming with each passed OWL Harry announced. "Astronomy... oh my God." Harry's face dropped.
"What is it dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"D. And this says I have to take a mandatory repeat of fifth year astronomy to make up for failing!"
"Oh Harry that's horrible!" Hermione was shocked. "How in the world did you fail astronomy?"
Harry shrugged. "I didn't really take the exam. I was so distracted by everything and then on the Practical we all got interrupted, remember."
Ron gave his mother a pointed look making it clear that he had passed all of his exams, even if it had been barely. "Don't give me that look young man some subjects weigh more than others."
"Go on Harry what else did you get."
"Oh, well, Divination O, Herbology O, Wow I'm really doing great." Harry said to himself.
"Shut up, mate." Ron growled under his breath.
"History of Magic A and Care of Magical Creatures Perfect O. Six Os." Harry beamed and Mrs. Weasley again wrapped him up in a huge hug.
"That's great Harry!" Hermione was ecstatic; Harry had done better than she could have hoped. She had always known Harry was a powerful wizard, he just didn't have enough focus is the proper areas and she absolutely knew he could be brilliant if he wanted to he just needed to apply himself more, Ron needed to apply himself more too.
"Absolutely wonderful Harry! I always knew you would do fantastically." Mrs. Weasley declared in a much better mood. "And Ron, as long as you get Perfect O's on the Newts for Care of Magical creatures, Divination, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts I'll be fine with the fact that your only taking four Newts classes. That way you can devote you attentions to specific studies."
"Course Mum." Ron agreed, happy his mother was now placated.
"Hermione, we still haven't heard your scores." Hermione's father said.
"Yeah Hermione, read off the Os." Ron demanded looking to keep his mother from a relapse of her rage at him.
"But I'm not sure I – "
" – Do you think you did badly dear?" interrupted her.
"No, I'm just not sure – "
" – Well then there's no problem, show us your grades Pumpkin." Said Hermione's father.
"Oh alright!" Hermione grabbed her envelope and tore though it violently then whipped it about until it unfolded. She began reading the grades out rapidly. "Potions O, Charms Perfect O and a special recommendation to skip Pre Newts Charms and enter strait into Newts Charms, Astronomy Perfect O with the same recommendation, Aritmancy Perfect O, Care of Magical Creatures Perfect O, Defense against the Dark Arts Perfect O, Transfigurations Perfect O with a note for special recommendation as well, Herbology the same, History of Magic Perfect O, Ancient Runes Perfect O, and Caligromancy Perfect O." Hermione breathed a large sigh of relief. "Four special placement recommendations, ten Perfect Os, and one O. And there's also a note attached to the entire thing saying that I am the first student in the history of Hogwarts to receive as many Perfect Os." Hermione was dumbstruck. She had never dreamed of doing so well on the OWLS and in truth she had been very worried about her Potions grade since she had felt her practical exam had not turned out as good as it could have.
"Hermione that's absolutely wonderful!" her mother's elated voice broke Hermione from her trance and she finally released the tension that had been building up since the beginning of fifth year. Of course she would have to decide which Newts she would be taking next year and which Pre Newts classes she would select but maybe she'd rest for a week before starting on that.
"That's absolutely brilliant Hermione!" Harry and Ron chimed at the same time
"Darling you deserve a present!" her father said decidedly. "Name it, anything within reason of course."
"What's within reason Dad?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, just try not to go over the price of a nice sporty car eh?" Her father winked at her.
"A CAR! Oh a car!" Hermione was thrilled but, "But dad, what in the world would I do with a car? I'll be able to apparate by next year."
"We know honey, but we also always knew we'd be buying you a car and sending you to Oxford. And even though things have changed you've always made us proud, in whatever you do, you're brilliant Pumpkin and your mother and I love you." Hermione's father hugged her tightly. We've been saving up for a bit to get you a car but then we realized it would be sort of pointless so just name what you'd want instead."
"But what about the money for college? I'm not going to muggle college, unless you still want me to..."
"Of course we wouldn't push you Honey, we only want you to be happy and do your absolute best and it's quite clear you've got both those things covered in the Wizarding world. Besides, we solved that a while back as well." smiled sowing gleaming white teeth all in a perfect line. "It was quite clear you'd be getting scholarships so we decided to use the money we had saved for your collage another way. We put it in a trust fund a while back so that you'd have something to help you out once you go out get a place of your own. It's our present to you for being such a wonderful daughter."
"Mum, Dad, I don't know what to say... I Love you! Thank you for everything!" Hermione was on the verge of tears she was so happy.
Hermione's parents just smiled at their perfect daughter.
"Wait there's more here, forms to fill out and notes." Hermione closely examined all the papers. "Oh no! There's no almost no time at all to choose classes! We need them in by the thirteenth of August!"
Harry started. "Why in the world would August mean we have no time for choosing classes? That's moths away Hermione."
"Because! This is an important decision it affects your entire life if you don't chose the right classes how in the world are you going to get the right amount of NEWTS? How are you going to get apprenticeships? How are you going to learn what's required for the job you want? If you don't have any of that then you wont be able to do anything. You can't do anything without a proper job and let me tell you I will not be some bum on the streets because I chose the wrong NEWTS courses to take!" Hermione had worked herself frantic and all anyone could do was stare at her.
"Wow Hermione, you really need to calm down."
"Do not tell me to calm down Harold James Potter!"
"Harold?" Harry asked.
"You heard me! This is a serous matter and if you're going to goof off I insist you give me your scheduling forms this instant." Hermione held her hand out across the table and demanded Harry surrender the forms.
"What?"
"You obviously have no idea what to take Harry I can help you. You too Ron."
"But Hermione..."
"Give me your scheduling sheet Harry." Hermione held out her hand and had no intention of backing down. Mrs. Weasley and her parents decided she could deal with this on her own and so sat down for a nice breakfast feast while Hermione put Harry and Ron's futures in order.
"Fine," Harry gave her the sheets knowing it was inevitable. "but don't give me anything too hard and I don't want any potions."
"You need potions." Hermione searched around for a quill and when one couldn't be found she asked Mrs. Weasley to transfigured a piece of bacon into one. The first thing Hermione marked down was Pre NEWTs Advanced Potions. "There." She said.
"I'm X-ing that out."
"No you aren't."
"See that down there," Harry pointed to the bottom of the form. "That says I have to agree to this schedule and prove that these are my choices. I'm not signing that until I like what you've chosen for me and I don't like potions."
"You will too sign it! Potions is a very useful class and you'll need the NEWTs level to become an Auror."
"I can buy pre made potions at the apothecary."
"Those cheap things are half the potency of a third year's first try."
"Now your quoting Snape?"
"It's true!"
"Next class."
"Well I think we should all take healing magic and Conjuring."
"But Hermione Conjuring is like, ten time harder than transfiguration!"
"That reminds me, you'll also be taking Pre NEWTs Adv. Transfiguration. And lets see what else. PNA Charms will do you some good as well."
"Hermione that's way too much work! Put down PNA DADA and PNA CoMCs too if you must."
"I will." And she did. "Now lets see what's left... Well Mandatory Repeat Astronomy and that leaves you two slots. You should take apparition education and PNA Herbology."
"No put down PNA Divination so I can have another class with Ron."
"But Harry you really should take Herbology! You'll need it. I'm marking it down."
"No put down Divination I don't even like Herbology. I only got an O because I had to study so much. There was nothing else to do since I couldn't play Quidditch so I studied and my grades went up a bit. I don't actually like to do all that stuff like you do so put me down for Divination because I need at least one easy class out of five Pre NEWTs classes and Conjuring and we don't have history of Magic to sleep in anymore."
"Oh fine Harry but you're going to regret this." Hermione marked down Pre NEWTs Divination and Harry signed the schedule request with the bacon quill.
"Come on Ron your next."
Ron clutched his sheets of schedule papers and looked at Hermione with fear in his eyes. After what she had done to Harry he wasn't to sure what she was going to do with him. "What about you?"
"I have to take time to deliberate on which NEWTs classes I'll take this year because after those are Masters courses which are said to be absolutely mind boggling. I think I'll take Charms, or maybe Transfigurations but I can't decide which I want more. Oh I guess I'll just take them both at NEWTs level. Everything else will just have to stay Pre NEWTs though I think I'll forgo History of Magic and I'll have to give up Herbology and Astronomy as well oh Damn! I absolutely must keep Aritmancy Caligromancy and Ancient Runes so I'll have to skip having a break on Friday and possibly a lunch or two as well but it will all be very much worth it."
"Hermione is this going to be a repeat of third year?"
"Of course not Ron."
Nobody believed her.
It was near night by the time Draco took the OWLs results up to his room. He had been avoiding looking at them all day but now he really needed a distraction so he finally looked. He smiled, smirked, laughed, smiled some more, became aghast, became enraged, crumpled up the paper and threw it in a corner. Fuck.
Draco shoved some pillows and the comforter off of his bed and threw himself down on it in a very un-Malfoy manner.
His grades were good that one little thing didn't make a difference, he was getting an award. He could still bet granger, that one thing didn't ruing everything. Why the hell did he still care about his grades when his father wasn't here to push him to bet Granger? Draco did not need to bet Granger at anything and truly who cared if he did? Only Granger, only him, and only his dead father who was still haunting him at every turn with some memory or ingrained impulse that's who.
Draco pushed all thoughts of grades from his mind and decided, with a frown, that he would think of other things. Things not concerning grades or the future events of tonight. Draco looked down at the white mask in his hands and his frown grew deeper. The death eaters were cowards, using mask to cover their faces. Draco was no Gryffindor hero but he was a Malfoy and he had a great deal of pride in himself and if he chose to do anything he would take pride in it.
Draco held the mask up to the light and wondered if Snape's was modified to fit his large nose or if Lestrange's was shaped differently to fit his ugly protruding jaw. Draco's father's face had always looked horrible under the mask. He hated seeing his father in full Death Eater garb it was so creepy and impersonal. Like hollow, soulless soldiers running around executing people. Draco thought he might look that way too.
His father, when he was alive, had had quite a hansom face, or so everyone had said. He had always resembled his father but it had never been such a resemblance that people thought he would turn out exactly like him. Draco's face was much too pretty to be considered ruggedly handsome, his sharp features and flawless porcelain skin prevented that. In the past he had truly wished to look like his father but his jaw was a bit to narrow and his high cheekbones resembled his mother's more than his father's. Draco had been convinced that at the rate things were going he would never look like his father. This had been disappointing at the time but Draco was actually quite glad of it now. He still looked like a Malfoy, how could he not, but he wasn't his father and he didn't want to be.
The Malfoy coloring was a hallmark of their name and wives were chosen carefully based on genetics rather than personality and love. Looks were just as important as pedigree. Nobody wanted an over bite or frizzy hair thrown into the gene pool.
The only thing in Draco's physical appearance that was his own were the lean muscles he had earned from quidditch that clung tightly to his thin frame. Even his thinness wasn't his own. His father had once told him: "A Malfoy is never fat." and it was true. Out of all the hundreds of family portraits that lined the walls of the Manor Family Gallery not one of them hosted overweight, portly, or even slightly plump occupants. No, all Malfoys were thin, tall, beautiful, had gray eyes, pale blond hair, milky white skin, and refined upper-class noses.
Tanning of a Malfoy was expressly forbidden, tanning had too many plebian undertones, only workers in the fields of lords tanned in the sun as their lords stayed in the castles. No Malfoy in all the families extensive history – which reached back before the founders of Hogwarts and beyond the founding of Rome – had ever strayed far from these set traits. True to form Draco was specifically all of these things with very few exceptions.
Draco was short though it was by Malfoy standards. This was fine while he was at Hogwarts because he was the perfect build for a seeker but he would not be a seeker forever and someday he would have to take on the roll of his father in politics. Malfoy's are politicians not professional athletes and though he is considered too young to be taken seriously in politics, for the time being, some day he would enter into that arena and Draco could hear his father chastising him for his high and giving him a potion to make him grow so that he would be better suited for a roll that required public speaking where he had to look stately and charismatic at all costs. Draco had no idea what he was going to do with himself now that his father was dead and he might actually be able to pursue a professional Quidditch career. He would probably just go into politics.
The thing was, he wasn't actually short and he wasn't some midget, he was shorter than his father had been and he was even shorter than his mother, who was a slender and elegant five ten, but it wasn't like he was abnormally small for his age. But the problem was that while not noticeably short on his own, when coupled with his lithe form and set between his tall parents or his bulky friends he had no hope of being considered as compared to other people who were shorter than he was.
Potter was shorter than he was but the fact that Potter was only a few centimeters short of Draco nullified the slew of insults he was ready to throw at the boy. There was no way Draco would bring up the problems of Potters height if there was a chance of any comment about his own being flung back at him. Damn his great great grandmother Alluvia's Veela blood for not granting him the tall willowy stature of her race.
Like most pureblood families that only coupled with other pure bloods there was always the chance of incest and wearing out the gene pool, which resulted in some very nasty attributes like Pansy's pug nose. The Malfoys avoided this problem like the plague. Not only did it have the potential to produce mutated children and mental deficiencies it muddied up the innate magic and increased the frequency of squibs appearing in families that weren't careful, the Malfoys would never tolerate Squibs in their line. So instead of breeding in muggles which could screw up magic just as easily as marrying ones sister the Malfoys had opted to bring in Veela blood. This was the obvious solution since none of the Veela traits interfered with those of the Malfoys and could only serve to enhance the beauty of the line. Too bad the only noticeable thing that Draco had not inherited from his great grandmother had been her height. He also wouldn't have minded getting her ability to spit fireballs. Oh! The fun he could have had with that.
Draco was lying in the middle of his black silk sheets, which were atop his king sized four-poster bed raised on a dais in the middle of the room and surrounded by numerous black throw pillows. He was in his own room since tradition or not it would be too weird sleeping in the Master suite with his mother still there because he would never kick her out of her own room.
Still, his own suit was the second largest in the Manor. Draco Malfoy did not have a single bedroom he had an apartment. Inside the main door was a sitting room with black leather couches and chairs, but not a footstool. It had run away last summer when in a fit of rage he had kicked it into the wall, after it had recovered the abused footstool had fled the manor much to his chagrin. Below the chairs was a beautiful black and silver rug whose pictures moved if you stared at them long enough. The seats were positioned around a cavernous black marble fireplace with ornate molding, above that was where he kept pictures of his friends at school and a few knickknacks. Being a Malfoy all the knickknacks were obviously priceless treasures. There were four doors not including the double doors leading into the room. The door to the far left was his study, which used to be his playroom. Now it housed his polished mahogany desk and bookshelves as well as a grandfather clock whose face had an actual nose mouth and eyes, which would talk to him from time to time about the personality quirks of former inhabitants, due to this clock he now knew that his father once possessed black fuzzy house slippers with bobbles at the end when he was Draco's age. Also in his apartments located past the middle right and the middle left doors were a humongous bathroom and a closet the size of his dorm room at Hogwarts respectively. To the far left was his spacious bedroom, and in the middle raised up on a small platform was his humongous bed, dressed in black and white like the rest of his rooms with a black runner black silk sheets unbelievably soft white comforter and at least twenty black and white throw pillows of varying sizes and sheen. Whoever had expected Slytherin colors when they entered Draco's rooms would be sorely disappointed.
Draco was currently lying in a starfish position. Spread out across his sheets in high-necked black billowing robes with too many black buttons with only black bed coverings beneath him and black pillows around him. The white comforter was thrown into a heap at the right of the bed and all the white pillows had been sorted through and thrown into the same heap. His hands were tucked into his sleeves and he kept his feet inside the black dragon hide boots so no white skin other than his face was showing. The only other white on the bed was Draco's hair that fanned out around him like a halo of light behind his head. The shock of his face and hair against the black bed sheets made it seem as if he had no body. His light blond hair had grown a bit past his shoulders and he hated it that length because even if he wasn't an exact replica of his father but having it like that made him look a bit too much like Lucius for his tastes. Maybe he would have it cut soon as some sort of memorial to his father's death.
Draco's gray stormy eyes were slowly opened and stared at the silver-gray and silver-white painted Chinese dragons that twisted and flew across the ceiling above him.
"If I'm left waiting any longer I'm going to develop worry lines on my forehead." Draco called to no one. This was a completely unfounded claim because all Malfoys knew to keep their emotions behind a mask of passive superiority, and the mask was second nature to Draco by now. He probably couldn't develop worry lines if he tried.
"Worry lines, Ha! Is it shallow to let your mind wonder to your looks just before entering the presence of the Dark Lord?" He asked the silver-gray dragon but it didn't answer him.
"Well, fate is fate." He mused aloud. "I'm not exactly a fatalistic person though." The silver-white dragon had wrapped herself into a complex knot and Draco paused to see her gracefully twist out of it again. Draco heaved a heavy sigh and closed his eye's trying not to think about what was going to happen to him any moment now.
"Master Malfoy?" a small squeaky voice drifted up from the foot of his bed interrupting his thoughts. He could just see the tips a little green ears poking up between his feet.
Draco shifted on the bed so that he was now lying on his stomach and his head was at the foot. He looked over the edge of the mattress at the little house elf. He sometimes wondered if house elves were concerned about breeding like wizards were and whether or not the size of their eyes was a factor to be considered when choosing a good mate. This one's name was Cappy and though not his favorite she wasn't as annoying as Dobby had been.
"What?" he asked.
"Master Malfoy is ordering Cappy to tell him when Professor Snape arrives and Professor Shape has arrived."
"Okay."
"Would Master Malfoy be wanting Cappy to fix his bed?" The house elves knew not to change his rooms without his expressed permission. When he made a mess sometimes he liked to wallow in it, the elves had learned to regret cleaning up before he was done.
"Sure." Draco yawned as he got out of bed, stretched, did a straitening spell on his cloths and then marched out of the room heading down the stairs and into the front entrance of the Manor where the limousine would be waiting.
As Draco walked he ran his hands along the molding of the walls, paused in front of every reflective surface to check that his hair and cloths were in order, and alternated between imitated Sev's intimidating stalk and then his father's brisk stride to see the difference in how they made his robes flow behind him. He decided on his father's stride since it was easier to imitate, if he relied on the stalk it could easily turn into a trudge if he lost concentration and that was unacceptable. Draco's own normal pace was considered to be at moderately quick, sometimes swaggering, saunter but that wouldn't get him to the entrance in under an hour and it was no longer fit for the head of house to slide down banisters and run to reach his destination, those were some of the very few misbehaviors his father had allowed him as a child. No wonder Malfoy's never got fat they spent half their time walking miles in their own house, thought Draco. Damn anti-apparition wards of his paranoid patronage and what was befitting behavior for the Lord of Malfoy Manor he had no time to waste striding around his house.
Draco turned the corner and grabbed a blue vase, he was too big to fit into any of the shoots located around the house but one good thing about the wards was that they didn't prevent inside port key's or flooing, both of which he shouldn't do because one was illegal and a bit dangerous and the other messed up your clothing. Draco pointed his wand at the vase, spoke the incantation and then found himself in the main entrance hall standing before Severus Snape. That was when his mark began to burn and the vase crashed to the ground.
In the middle of Grimmauld Place library Harry sat playing exploding snap with Ginny as Hermione and Ron did heaven knows what upstairs in his room. Why they couldn't use Hermione and Ginny's room he didn't know but it squiked him out to imagine his two best friends going at it ten feet from the place he had to sleep every night. Keeping those thoughts at bay was Harry's only purpose for playing exploding snap because to be honest even if the cards did explode the game got old after a certain amount of time.
Really, Harry loved Ginny to death, thought of her as a sister and would do anything for her but she wasn't the same as Ron and Hermione. With Ron and Hermione there was always something to do, something to plan, something to talk about. It wasn't that Ginny was boring, on the contrary she could be as devious as the twins but she wasn't his best friends and it was different somehow, it was somehow easier to talk to Ron and Hermione because he wanted them to know everything, he wanted them to be able to understand him completely but with Ginny, and anyone else for that matter, Harry had absolutely no inclination to tell them anything more personal than his favorite color.
How many times last night had he laid awake with Ron sleeping right next to him and just wanted to wake the red head up, call Hermione in, and tell them everything that was on his mind. Every secret desire, speculation on Voldermort, doubt about the future and the war, and most importantly about the prophesy. Every time Hermione and Ron came around it was on the tip of his tongue and in the forefront of his mind to tell them everything
Harry had no idea what was stopping him but he knew it had something to do with what he thought their reaction would be. Hermione and Ron saw him as a person, everyone else saw him as an icon, a celebrity it was almost as if he weren't real to them, even his fellow house mates saw him as more than just plain old Harry. He was afraid that if he told them they would see him as everyone else did, as Harry Potter Savior of the Wizarding World. As it was they didn't expect him to be the one who had to go after Voldermort, to them he wasn't responsible for saving everyone's lives, maybe if they knew that in all actuality he was their perception of him would change. He wanted Ron and Hermione to know but he had no idea how to tell what their reactions would be or even what he would want their reactions to be.
The main differences between Ginny and his best friends was that he would never want to tell her about the prophecy for the same reason he wanted to tell Ron and Hermione. Harry flat out didn't want Ginny to know about the prophecy and no matter how much time he spent with her he couldn't see that changing. So given the choice Harry would have preferred spending his time with Ron and Hermione but where were his best friends? Well they were up in his room not ten feet from his bed doing God probably doesn't want to know what and you could sure as hell bet that Harry didn't want to either.
"Is there anything else we could be doing?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, you could study." Ginny pointed out and stopped the game to glance at the huge stacks of books Mrs. Weasly had gotten them all. Hermione insisted on learning everything there was to know about every one of her subjects before she actually took them and while Mrs. Weasly was out getting her books she had decided to get everyone else's in hopes that they would follow Hermione's example.
Harry gave Ginny a look and went back to playing exploding snap.
"Yeah that's what I thought. Well, everyone who's coming for dinner should be here soon enough. Someone ought to tell Ron and Hermione to finish it off."
"What – Nevermind. " Harry thought about this for a moment then decided that anything was better than making Ginny spout more unwanted innuendo and continued playing the game of exploding snap.
Tonight would be the second meeting of the Order Harry would officially attend and he was looking forward to it but there was also the taint of apprehensive hanging over the whole affair. Like it would be easier if he just didn't have to attend for some reason, of course didn't want to skip out but if some unexpected event came up that prevented him from attending he wouldn't be too terribly disappointed.
"Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny!" Called Mrs. Weasley from the kitchen. "Come in here and help me set the tables."
Harry, glad for the opportunity to do something other than play exploding snap, swept up the cards and quickly made his way to the kitchen with Ginny in tow.
"What can we do Mrs. Weasley?" he asked
Mrs. Weasley didn't even bother turning around from the pot she was throwing ingredients into and stirring with her wand. "Oh just set the tables dears, I'd do it myself but I haven't a moment to spare. Plates are in the third cabinet to the left of the stove, top obviously and the silverwares in the drawer just under it. Oh, and if you could put out napkins and glasses too. You'll need a bowl for each of them as well set up about twenty places and that should do it."
Harry and Ginny set about walking back and froth from the kitchen to the dinning room grabbing the slightly chipped plates out of the cupboard and putting them down between lightly tarnished silverware then making their way back to the kitchen for another load.
Harry wasn't looking forward to the dinner or the meeting that would follow. He had seen enough of Draco Malfoy and Snape in one week to last him far longer than the rest of the summer. Last time had been trying enough and talking to Dumbledore afterwards would have been a slow type of torture if he hadn't had quite so much on his mind but now that things were relatively calm he realized he really didn't want to talk to the old man he used to think of as his mentor.
Eventually Ron and Hermione stumbled down the stairs and managed to look half way decent, Harry wasn't sure how much either of them would do, Hermione would never just throw herself at Ron without thinking about the consequences but Harry wasn't too sure what Ron wanted to do but he was sure he would go as far as Hermione let him.
Ron was up in his and Harry's room when he heard his mother calling himself and Hermione down to the kitchen.
"Bloody hell!" he cursed under his breath breaking the kiss he and Hermione had been involved in. Ron thought they had finally gotten around to doing something other than kissing after nearly an hour of talking each other up to it.
"What?" asked Hermione, pulling away from Ron's embrace.
"Nothing." Ron said defiantly and took advantage of the fact that Hermione had not head the summons, for if she had she surely would have made them both head downstairs as fast as possible. Ron leaned forward to kiss her again but apparently she was having none of it.
"No, it wasn't Ron. What was that? Was someone calling us?"
"No, it was nothing, forget about it."
"Forget about what?"
"Whatever you think you heard."
Hermione gave Ron a disbelieving look but went back to kissing him softly despite her doubts. "Ron." She asked after a few minutes so suddenly that it startled him. "are you sure you didn't hear anything? Maybe I was just imagining it but it was your mother's voice and that would be very odd imagining your mothers voice at a time like this, wouldn't it?"
"Oh fine Hermione! My mum called us down to set the table, there. Get up lets get going."
"Oh my god! Ron! what are they going to think?" Hermione scrambled off the bed and down the stairs in a rush to dispel doubts in anyone's mind that what she was doing with Ron was not completely and totally proper.
Unfortunately when Ron and Hermione arrived more than a few minutes late they arrived at the very moment the twins popped out of the fireplace. Ron would have thought this was all well and in good fun if he hadn't know exactly what would happen.
"Hey guys!" he called to his two older brothers as soon as he entered the kitchen. "Charlie and Bill here yet?" he asked. It was a weak attempt at distraction and he knew that nothing could stop the twins short of a scolding by their mother, and even that was an unreliable weapon at the best of times, but he was willing to try anyway.
"And where have you been little brother?" asked Fred.
"up holding the family name, eh?" added George with what Ron guessed was a suggestive look.
"I have no idea what you two are talking about and we were just talking."
"Just talking were you?"
"is that what there calling it these days."
"Back in our time they just called it what it was."
"No need to be shy about it Ron, you're a man now."
"No I'm not!" wait... "Wait! Yes I am!" no... "No! I mean not that way!"
Thank Merlin that was the moment Bill flew through the fireplace followed a second later by Charlie.
"Meant that what way?" asked Bill.
"NOTHING!" Ron went into the dinning room before anyone else could ask any embarrassing questions, luckily Harry and Ginny were just finishing up putting down the plates.
"Hey Ron." Said Ginny amiably. "So where have you and Hermione been all this time?"
"Oh not you too!"
And that was the way it when for some time until all the guests arrived, well all but two, and nobody was missing Snape and Malfoy. Thank Merlin Dumbledore didn't chime in with his two sicles about anything, that would have been incredibly uncomfortable.
Ron sat at the long dinning table with Hermione on one side and Harry on the other slowly picking away at the food on his plate trying not to stare at the new DADA teacher. He was introduced by Dumbledore as Professor Norton and judging by his accent he was from the States. Apparently Dumbledore couldn't find anyone left in England who wanted the job.
Professor Norton was very tall and thin, tan with dark blue eyes, had a long, thin, pointy face, long skinny nose, very short receding hair, and was around the age of twenty seven or so. Ron thought he sounded very authoritative talking to Charlie about the small Casashadow dragons of northern Mexico so maybe he wasn't as much of an idiot as most of the other DADA teachers.
Bill was being told by Ron's mum, along with Harry, that both of them should be given a good haircut and both were vehemently saying that neither of them indented to do any such thing.
Ron was happy to hold Hermione's hand under the table but she wouldn't let him put it in her lap and the twins kept giving him meaningful glances and he was apprehensive of them giving him a talking to about upholding the family name by producing as many children as possible but not to do it until after he had married her. He also thought they intended to teach him a few good protection charms but really, if Hermione had any intention of going father than kissing he was sure she would know every contraceptive potion ever created so there were no worries coming from that direction.
Ron looked over at Harry and saw his best friend glancing up and down the table as if looking for someone who should be there but wasn't and looking anywhere but Dumbledore. Dumbledore was looking worried though Ron couldn't figure out why. Hermione was now looking at her food blushing lightly because of Fred and George's continuous overt innuendos and aside from giving Ron and Hermione knowing glances the twins were looking at each other silently congratulating one another about how they managed to give each item of food on the table some type of sexual connotation.
"Ron, did you spill the cream cheese on you pants again? And right after Hermione got it off the last time!" Shouted George across the table. One more thing out of one of their mouths and Ron swore to himself he'd throw a potato at them or something.
"Shut up!" Ron hissed at the twins, but all they did was look at one another and snigger.
Ron looked at Hermione and saw her recovering quickly from being extremely flustered and slowly becoming quite enraged. He thought that maybe she would beat him to pelting the twins with potatoes if he didn't watch her.
Ron gently squeezed his girlfriend's hand and looked around the table again. Dumbledore was talking with Charlie and Professor Norton, his parents were talking to Hermione's, Harry was giving his plate his complete attention, Tonks and some of the other Aurors were having a discussion about work, Bill was looking at the twins and Ron was pretty sure his eldest brother knew exactly what was going on, Ginny was looking as if she knew as well, no body was looking when the fireplace in the kitchen flared and Snape and Malfoy tumbled out of it in full death eater garb but everyone heard it.
A/N: Sorry that took a so long to get out but to make up for it it's extra long! These damn hurricanes are coming at least once a week (What the hell is up with that?!) and power's not all that reliable. AIR CONDITIONING AND ENTERTAINMEN!!! That's all I ask. A little a/c and some TV, please, I can live without the food! I'll be so happy when this damn hyperactive hurricane seasons is over but damn it it's still only the beginning of October. Well, enough of my griping, hope you liked the fresh perspectives. Believe me most of this fic will be either Harry or Draco third limited and everything starts speeding up and gaining momentum after this, sorta took a while. Anyway thanks for reading, hope you liked it, please review.