Plans Unfold

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"I trust all is going as planned?" A low voice drawled as if completely bored.

"Yes father. She doesn't have a clue what's going on."

"Just make sure that nothing goes wrong Draco. If you complete this task successfully, you will become the youngest Death Eater that Voldemort has accepted. I must go now, your mother may suspect something if I am gone too long."

"Goodbye father." Draco said. What his father had just said to him was the closest thing to appraisal that he had ever been given. He thought that his father must be proud of him for his accomplishments. He would not fail.

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This cannot fail. Severus Snape whispered to himself. "Mr. Malfoy may I see you after class please?" He said to Draco near to the end of the lesson. The rest of the class was surprised that Draco was getting in trouble with Snape, especially since this time he had actually been working quietly.

After everyone had cleared out, Draco waltzed over to Snape's desk and said, "Well? What is it?" He said it nonchalantly as he brushed a stray strand of his hair back.

"How is your mother faring Mr. Malfoy? I trust she is doing better."

"She...she's fine. Much better, thank you." Snape had hit something. Draco loved his mother, she may be the only person in the world that he truly loved and cared about. She was a wonderful mother to her son, even if he was the son of her only hate. She pretended though, every day and every night so that she and Draco would be safe. Lucius seemed to either not notice or not care. He had what he wanted; she was his prize; a beautiful object that he had craved and won.

"Has your father been to see you recently?"

"Yes. What is this about?"

"He asked me to check up on you. See that things were...well going smoothly." Snape had absolutely no idea how Draco was going to react to this. The purpose of his question was to find out whether or not Lucius had already set about giving Draco a task to enable Voldemort to trust him to be a Death Eater.

"There is no need for you to be checking on me also. Everything is going according to plan. That stupid Mudblood has no clue what she's got coming." Draco said with a smirk.

"Well what's the next step of your plan?" Severus said, trying hard to bury his worry as deep as possible.

Draco was slightly confused, as he would have thought his father would have filled him in on every detail. But none-the-less he had learned not to asked questions and so replied, "Well, after she sleeps with me and I gain her trust Voldemort can use her to get to Potter. At least that's what I was told."

Severus felt a massive weight come upon him. Draco had just dropped about a 500-pound mass onto not only his body but also his heart. Not caring to listen to what else Draco had to say he immediately rose from behind his desk and headed towards Dumbledore's office muttering something like "Thank you Mr. Malfoy that will be all." He didn't care what it was that he said as long as Draco was out of his sight. He felt as if he could crush him into the size of a flea, If you could even call him worthy enough to be one. Snape thought to himself.

It seemed to take eons of time to reach Dumbledore's office and when Snape finally did he was surprised that he was even able to reach it. He hadn't been paying much attention to exactly where he had been going. He was expecting to just look up and realize that he was in Hagrid's hut or something similar to that. He stared up into the great gargoyle statue's eyes and was about to utter the password when he heard, "Hey! What are you looking at you greasy git?" in a haughty, old English voice. Snape jumped at the sound and was astounded to see that it was the gargoyle speaking to him.

"Excuse me?" Snape said still shocked.

"I said what are you looking at?"

"I was looking at you actually." Snape said more casually.

"Well what do you want?" The gargoyle said, a bit agitated.

"I was about to see the Headmaster."

"I see, well a bit of advice old chap, cheer up. I can't stand when people look like the way you do as if life isn't worth living or some nonsense like that. Just think, it could be worse. You could be a stone gargoyle stuck in front of an office talking to people who think they have it bad." With that the gargoyle's face seemed to harden and he said no more.

Realizing that this was the moment that he had been dreading he uttered the familiar password and headed up to an all-knowing Dumbledore, who was expecting him.

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Hermione, Harry and Ron dragged themselves back to the Gryffindor common room after a long and hard day of double potions, Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. DADA was still Harry and Ron's favourite subject by far, but it was much more challenging now that they had to worry about their N.E.W.Ts.

They entered the portrait hole sleepy-eyed and thankful to have the night to rest. They collapsed on the couch in front of the fire not caring that they were all squished together on one sofa.

Seeing this as a great opportunity for Hermione and Ron, Harry winked smugly at Ron and said, "I've been meaning to ask Snape a question about my Occlumency lessons, so I'll be back in a bit." He grabbed his books discreetly so he could go to library instead and keep himself busy.

"All right Harry. See you later." Ron said smiling at his friend and mentally thanking him for this.

"Bye Harry. Don't be too long, you have that potion's assignment to write." Hermione said sternly.

Harry left briskly after assuring Hermione that he would complete his assignment. Ron and Hermione were sitting snugly on the couch together and Ron decided that this was the time to prove that he had many interesting things to talk to Hermione about.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip in a few days, are you going?" He said casually.

"Probably. Crookshanks needs more food and I need some more ink."

"Well, do you want to meet up somewhere and have a bite to eat or something? We could go to that couples café, 'Madame Puddifoot's'."

"Listen Ron, I think that I should tell you straight out. I don't…want to be your girlfriend." She spat out in a slur of words. "You're great and all, but we just don't have enough in common." She seemed to think that if she said all of this very fast that it would be easier for Ron to handle.

"Then why did you go to the dance with me?" He said weakly, trying to find some shred of hope. Hermione however, didn't get a chance to answer, a group of first-years came barreling through the portrait hole and they were forced to end their conversation short.

"I'm sorry Ron. I hope this wont change anything." Hermione said as she headed for the portrait hole. "I'm going to the library, I'll see you later."

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"So, my dear friend Severus, you're here to tell me about our young Mr. Malfoy I presume."

"He's -," Snape paused for a moment as a thought came to him, "How did you know?"

"That is not of importance at this time Severus. I'm aware of what he is planning to do and obviously he must be stopped. If it is necessary we will place not only Hermione Granger under protection but also Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. All could be used in some way by Voldemort. At this point, I don't see that that is necessary. I propose that we carry out our original plan as we had discussed, only we may have to hurry things up a bit."

"If we fail -"

"We cannot fail. Now, Severus I think it prudent that you have a lemon pop and calm yourself down. Go take a rest and you'll see that everything is going to be fine."

"If you could have heard that slimy arrogant worm -"

"Severus, take a lemon pop and remember, we will both be watching very closely to monitor every movement from Mr. Malfoy."

Severus obviously had to be told twice but none-the-less he took a lemon pop and was on his way, still fuming about Draco. He knew of course that Albus was right.

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Hermione could not believe what had just happened. She felt like the vilest of snakes that ever slithered on the earth. She decided to head for the library but with her mind so occupied she had instead led herself to the third floor, a place she knew well. She glanced around momentarily to reminisce the memories of her first year. She could almost see herself with Ron and Harry bolting away from Fluffy. She chuckled at Hagrid's complete and utter compassion towards even the most vicious of creatures. She then remembered how easy things were before they became tangled up with relationships. She sighed with frustration and at the realization that she would be leaving this place forever at the end of the year.

She was about to leave when she spotted a leather-bound book with a stunning silver serpent pattern around the edges, lying on the ground behind a suit of armor.

"What you got there lassie?" A curious portrait asked.

"I don't know." She said absently. She tucked the book in between her Transfiguration and Potions work and headed back towards the library.