These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Hey, sorry this one took so long. I've been so busy with classes this semester that it took forever to finish this chapter.

Chapter 25: Getting Help from Sue

Draco strolled menacingly through the halls in a fashion very similar to Professor Snape. His brow was wrinkled in deep thought and his mouth was forming a deep scowl.

Potter is the problem. Potter is distracting her. That's the only reason she hasn't said 'yes' to me yet. It's got to be that! He's standing in my way. I will have Diina…I just need to do something about Potter. That's the key. So, he's in my way…is there a legal way to get him out my way?

Draco thought about that for only a moment before determining that the answer was 'no.' It didn't matter. Legality was so overrated. Obviously, Diina wouldn't care for Potter if he was dead, but then, who would Draco ruthlessly torment? Annoying Weasley and Granger wasn't fun unless Potter was there to try and be noble.

Let's see…I know a potion that can turn that git into a gibbering idiot…unfortunately, it's one that I've never been able to concoct, surprisingly enough. Who in the school is more talented than me at Potion-making, excepting Snape?

It took him only a moment to come up with the answer, and what he came to frightened him terribly.

Sue.

He was absolutely loathe to ask for a Muggle's help—especially that Muggle—but there was no one else who could do it. She had made that potion that even Snape had said was ridiculously complex…unbelievable as it was, Sue was a master potion brewer without even trying. Draco's scowl deepened. The thought of asking her for help made him absolutely sick to his stomach, but if he wanted Potter out of the way, he had no choice.

He stopped for a moment to listen, and sure enough, he heard eardrum-splitting wails of "Mince, Mince!" coming from the dungeons. Apparently the mutt was still missing in action.

Draco turned and followed the screams, quickly conjuring a pair of very good earmuffs and firmly placing them over his vulnerable ears.

"Why, why? Mince, why did you leave me?" Sue sobbed as she threw herself repeatedly into the wall of the dank, dripping Potions classroom. Draco nearly laughed at the sight—he would have, that is, if he hadn't been nearly deaf. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Sue.

"Silencio!" he cried. Immediately Sue fell silent, but she continued to move her mouth and throw herself against the wall as if she hadn't even noticed as Draco removed his earmuffs. Draco made a disgusted face and walked over to her, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to sit.

"Shut the hell up, you banshee, and I'll remove the spell!" he yelled. When she didn't respond, he shook her roughly until she looked at him. She blinked a few times, confused, then made an indignant face and began to move her mouth some more. From the way she was looking at him and waggling her finger, Draco could've sworn she was scolding him. He rolled his eyes and removed the spell.

"Don't! Speak!" he shouted as she opened her mouth to talk again. "Just listen. I…need…your…help." The last word bounced roughly off of his tongue like the opposite of a curse word, because he had absolutely no problem saying those.

Sue, however, didn't appear phased that Draco was asking for her help. She just continued sitting in the chair, now silent, staring at Draco with an expression that implied that she hadn't heard him and was still waiting for him to speak.

Draco began to gesticulate wildly, and yell something that, on TV, would've sounded remotely like:

"YOU BEEP, WHAT THE BEEP BEEPING BEEP ARE YOU JUST BEEPING SITTING THERE FOR? GOD BEEP, HAVE YOU NO BEEPING MIND? I BEEPING TELL YOU, NO ON IN THE WHOLE GOD BEEPING WORLD IS GOING TO BEEPING EVER TAKING YOU IN! YOU'LL BE BEEPING ALONE FOR THE BEEPING REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

Naturally, Sue just blinked at him and shrugged. She stood up and began to leave, to once more resume her search for her lost puppy, when Draco grabbed her arm.

"Sue! I need your HELP!" he yelled desperately. This was his final chance to get Diina once and for all, and he knew (much as he hated to admit it) that he was going to need Sue's assistance.

"Sleeping," Diina mumbled to her tormentor, keeping her eyes closed and rolling over in bed.

"You made a commitment," the tormentor reminded her. "Besides, it's almost eleven."

"Fine, fine," she sighed, opening her eyes. The tormentor turned out to be Blaise. That's right! I promised to spend the day with him in Hogsmeade. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair. It made her already Medusa-like hair worse, but she didn't care at the moment.

"We'll have to do something about that," Blaise remarked.

"I'll run a brush through it," she replied while Blaise picked up her comb, climbing into the bed behind her and began gently combing her hair. After he finished, she shooed him out of the room to get dressed. The room was empty of all other occupants, so Diina was throwing prospective outfits out on all the beds, when she realized the date.

Valentine's Day.

What've I done? I agreed to go with a boy to Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day! How could I be so stupid? He's gonna think it's a date. Alright, I need to dress modestly and casual. There was a knock at the door. "Come in," she called, standing at her closet in her pajamas.

"Hi," Maelona said, shutting the door behind her. "I wanted to help you get ready."

Maelona immediately took charge. Within minutes, Diina found herself in black flats, black thigh-high stockings, a red, long-sleeved, knee-length, off-the-shoulder dress, and a black lace poncho. Not long after that, she was walking down the path to Hogsmeade with Blaise. He took her to the Three Broomsticks and bought her a Butterbeer.

Harry sat at a table with Ron and Hermione in the Three Broomsticks, glaring over at Blaise Zabini and Diina. "She certainly works fast," he muttered, raising his beverage to take a sip.

"Oof," Maelona moaned as she was shoved into Harry by someone walking past her. She had jarred the arm with the hand that held the Butterbeer and some splashed out onto him. "I'm sorry. Let me help." Maelona pulled out a handkerchief and dried him off as best she could, finishing up by wiping off the bottle. Without another word, she trotted off.

Harry drank deeply, almost finishing his Butterbeer. He felt someone watching him and when he looked up to find the source, his eyes found Malfoy's piercing silvery eyes fastened on him. Why is he staring at me? Maybe I should go talk to him.

Draco could help but smirk as he watched Maelona 'help' Potter. She had bumped into him on purpose. Maelona was known in Slytherin for her fast hands. Draco had her using that talent to get the potion he'd had Sue concoct into Potter's drink. What a fool, Draco thought as he watched Potter gulp down the now-tainted beverage.

Potter looked over at Draco. After a few moments, he got up and came over. "You have nice eyes," Potter said. "Mind if I sit with you?"

What the bleeding Hell is going on? He's supposed to be ranting and raving like a maniac. Having heard no verbal protest, Potter sat next to him and offered to buy Draco a drink. Wait a second, is he coming on to me?

Diina glanced around the room while Blaise was getting them a second round. When her eyes fell on one particular table, she literally fell out of her seat. Harry and Draco are sitting together? It looks like they might actually be having a civil conversation! What could the two of them talk about? Oh, wait, stupid question. It looks like I'm going out with Blaise, which they won't like since they both want me. If they're plotting to get Blaise out of the way, I'll kill both of them.

Draco was just about to tell Potter to shove off when:

"BONZAI!" Sue yelled, coming at Potter from the side. She knocked him into Draco, and they ended up on the floor, with Potter on top.

"Potter, you git, get off!" Draco hissed while Potter blushed like a school girl. Draco tried to shove him off, but Sue had perched on Potter's back and Draco didn't have the leverage to move both of them.

"It w-was AWFUL!" Sue wailed. "I c-c-can't do it without M-m-Mince." She burst into tears. But moments after she'd begun crying, she dried her eyes. "C'mon, Draco. You promised to help me search if I made that potion." She clambered off of Potter, yanked Draco out from under him, and headed for the door, dragging a very reluctant Draco Malfoy behind her.

"I'll help," Potter offered. As they passed a table, they were stopped.

"Draco, it's so nice to see you and Harry coming together," Diina commented. "And it seems you're making friends with Sue as well."

Draco jerked his arm away from Sue and pulled over a chair, eager for any excuse to put off the puppy search. "Quite clearly I'm not the only one making friends," he replied, glancing over at Zabini. Draco's death glare at Zabini was blocked by Potter taking a seat between Draco and Blaise.

Potter was sitting very close to Draco and looking at Diina over the other boy's shoulder, so that his chin was just barely resting there. Draco, in turn, stuck his foot behind one leg of the chair and deftly flipped it.

Diina leapt up with a shriek and dragged Potter to a standing position. Potter, slightly disoriented from having cracked his head on a nearby table, began to wobble around the room ineffectually, until he made his way back to the table, and tripped over Blaise's foot, falling forward so that he was stretched out across Blaise and Draco with his head in Draco's lap. He looked up, slightly cross-eyed, and grinned girlishly at Draco.

"Hello, Draco, how are you?" he slurred. Diina reached for him roughly and pulled him off of Draco and Blaise, both of whom were looking rather frightened and disgusted.

"Harry, maybe you ought to go back up to the castle," Diina said. She looked around the room and spotted Sue, who was sobbing over her lack of Mince. "Sue!"

Sue looked up, bleary-eyed. "What?" she sobbed, snot slowly oozing from her nose. Diina made a disgusted face and heaved Harry into Sue's arms.

"Harry wants to help look for Mince! He thinks he saw her in the Gryffindor boys' dorm," Diina said quickly. Sue brightened immediately and threw Potter across her shoulders like a dead deer.

"Then off we go!" she cried, pointing triumphantly to the sky. With that, she bounded out of the room, jumping so high that Harry's head hit and made a dent in the doorframe.

Draco, Blaise, and Diina watched the spot where Sue had been before with slightly interested faces before shaking their heads and tutting. Diina sat down between Draco and Blaise, and glared pointedly at Draco.

"Didn't Sue say you'd promised to help as well? Maybe you ought to keep a promise one of these days," she snapped. Then, she put on an ooey-gooey sweet voice. "It'd mean the world to Sue!"

Draco, for his part, glared at Diina in return. She was right, of course, he had promised to help. He'd only done so because he'd hoped Sue would forget about it, but the girl's fluctuating memory capacity seemed to be at its peak right now, much to his displeasure. He really didn't want to leave Diina alone with Zabini, and he desperately cast around in his mind for an excuse.

"Erm…well…you know how Sue gets…con…fused?" he said weakly. Pathetic, he chided himself. You're a Malfoy, and that's the best you can come up with? You're a disgrace! "Of course, what I really meant was, both Potter and I agreed to help," he said quickly. "Sue thought that today was my turn, but it was, in fact, Potter's. So I am quite free at the time, and do have the perfect intention of keeping my promise, thank you very much!"

Diina raised an eyebrow. He was lying through his teeth, that much was obvious. Of course, Draco did that a lot, and Diina was more than used to it. But, she had to find a way to get rid of him…

"Well, don't you have some lady friend you'd like to entertain?" she remarked snidely, knowing full well that her comment would be like poking his temper with a needle. "After all, since I did turn you down…surely you're back on the dating scene. What girl in the school wouldn't want you? Besides me, of course." She wasn't sure why she was being so rude…it was probably in correlation with the fact that she had been having a good time with Blaise, and didn't want Draco to barge in and ruin it. She had a life separate from him and Harry, after all!

"Well, I've decided to keep myself for you, in case you change your mind," Draco replied.

"Ah-huh," Diina said, rolling her eyes at him. Blaise looked back and forth between them, somewhat nervously. He liked Diina a lot, but he didn't want to cross Draco. "Well, Draco, you know that's perfectly fruitless," Diina said. "I've already made my decision and I'm standing by it. In fact…" In a last ditch effort to make Draco leave, she grabbed Blaise's arm and pulled herself into his lap. "Before you interrupted us, Blaise…asked me to be his girlfriend," she said.

Blaise jumped slightly at Diina's words, but was more than pleased to have her in his lap. To go along with what she was saying, he wrapped his arms around her hips and looked up at her. "So, what do you say, darling? Will you be mine?" he asked.

"Of course, pumpkin," Diina responded sweetly, giving the tip of Blaise's nose a peck.

Draco's mouth dropped. How dare she! She's just—why—she's—ARGH! "Quite a dense move, both of you," Draco said softly. "Have your fantasy, for that's all it is."

Leaving them to ponder his words, he left the pub. When he stepped outside the door, he saw a cluster of reporters coming. Grinning wickedly, he walked up to them.

"I just saw Diina Riddle in the Three Broomsticks," he remarked. "If you hurry, you might catch her."

The reporters dashed off, and Draco headed for the castle, composing a letter to his father in his mind.

Diina saw the reporters before they saw her. "Hit the deck," she muttered, shoving Blaise over towards another table and preparing to dive under one in the hopes the reporters wouldn't see her.

"Oh, Miss Riddle," one called.

Too late. Diina put on a smile and resisted the urge to run while the reporters made their way over. "One question at a time," Diina commanded before they spoke a word. The reporters clearly weren't pleased at the idea, but decided to play by her rules. For the time being, anyway.

"Miss Riddle, why was it so important for you to come to Hogwarts? Record has it that you weren't attending a school for witchcraft and wizardry in America," a female reporter with chestnut brown hair said, pulling parchment, ink, and a quill out of her bag, which had her last name, McLaren, embroidered on it.

"I'm not quite sure myself," Diina replied. "That information hasn't been released to me yet, but as soon as I know, you'll know." In all honesty, Diina had no intention of telling them whenever she did find out. She'd probably be sworn to secrecy anyway.

"Are you here to kill Harry Potter for You-Know-Who?" a young man with dirty blonde hair asked. His personalized parchment declared him to be Mike Levine.

"If I am, my uncle certainly hasn't informed me," she retorted bitterly without thinking.

"Are you seeing Harry Potter in a romantic way or are you with him purely for the sake of your public image?" Levine continued.

"Excuse me," Diina snapped. "If you're implicating that I'm using Harry for personal benefit, well, that's simply not true. Whether or not it's romantic, I really can't say. I'm currently having difficulties in my love life. However, it's none of your business and if you continue asking about my personal life, I'll answer no more questions." Her anger was quite apparent; she was red in the face and her eyes possessed a look that promised an extremely painful death for the next journalist who might have the audacity to ask about her love problems. And that's when all Hell broke loose.

"Is there another man you've set your sights on?" Levine asked.
"Does Potter have another girlfriend?" McLaren said at the same time.

"What can you tell us about the deaths of those Aurors on December 26th of last year?" "What was the reasoning behind their deaths?" "Did you kill the Aurors as proof that you plan to follow in You-Know-Who's footsteps?"

"Who's next on your list?" McLaren added. Several of the reporters glanced over at Levine, for he had touched upon Diina's love life, and it had clearly angered her.

"No comment," she said softly. Then she pushed her way through the reporters and went back to Hogwarts, leaving Blaise behind without a second thought.

"It's your fault, imbecilic wench!" Draco grumbled.

"I followed your instructions," Sue defended herself, poking Harry with a wooden spoon and wondering when he'd wake up. "You must have copied them wrong."

"I did not copy the directions incorrectly. You must have omitted something," Draco argued.

"Nope, don't think so," Sue replied casually, jabbing Harry in the ribs with her spoon. What's taking so long? He should be conscious by now. How else is he going to help me find Mince?

"Well, there's the whole problem. You didn't think," Draco snapped. "Would you stop that?" he roared as Sue shoved the handle of her spoon up Harry's nose.

"Man! I was sure that'd get him," Sue said sadly, wrenching her spoon's handle free.

"Have you been paying attention? I won't help you find that stupid mutt unless you make the potion correctly," he reminded her.

Sue screwed up her face in concentration. With amazing force, she brought the spoon down on Harry's forehead. 'CRACK!' Her spoon was now in two pieces. "He broke my spoon!" Sue wailed, kicking Harry in the side. Naturally, it was all his fault. Draco glowered at her.

So Sue made the potion again, with Draco hanging over her shoulder the entire time. However, that wasn't necessary; Sue's execution was flawless. After pouring the brew down an unconscious Harry's throat, Sue dragged Draco off to hunt for Mince.

Draco sat next to Diina and Blaise the next morning at breakfast. Blaise was going on about something while Diina listened intently. Then she looked over to the door and dropped her fork, staring at the one who had just entered.

It was Potter. Draco noticed that all the Slytherin girls were staring as well. In fact, every female in the Great Hall seemed entranced by Potter, who threw a smile at all his adoring fans before taking his seat between Weasley and Granger. Granger fainted.

So Potter's become irresistible to women. But I know Sue didn't screw up this time. So what went wrong? Whatever it is that's been screwing up any attempt at magic must have messed up the potion as well.

"He looks absolutely scrumptious," Pansy sighed.

"A real fox," Maelona swooned.

"Anyone up for a fox hunt over at Gryffindor Table?" Diina said with a mischievous grin. She led the girls over to Gryffindor Table, where she took Granger's seat next to Potter. Millicent Bulstrode pushed Weasley off the bench and took his seat. The female population from the other tables flocked over, clustering around Potter.

Potter put one arm around Millicent and the other around Diina, leaning back against the girl directly behind him. Anyone who could reach his utensils fed him, treating him like a king.

Harry's day continued to be much like breakfast. In Divinations (which he only took in the hopes that Trelawney would have another vision concerning the war with Voldemort), he received fifty points for telling Trelawney how nice she looked today. He earned another fifty points in Transfiguration for saying "Good morning, Professor McGonagall."

In every class, all the girls sat as close to him as possible. Any girl not in the class would be waiting outside to escort him to his next lesson or wherever he might be headed. They even waited outside the boys' restroom for Harry. (They had offered to come in and help him, but he assured them he would be fine.)

Draco watched all this from the sidelines, barely able to see Potter over the positive typhoon of swooning girls. However, he didn't need to see him to know that the wretched Gryffindor was absolutely reveling in it. Draco's scowl was present almost perpetually, because he was always either passing Potter and his massive escort or he could hear girls giggling over him. It was enough to make any proper Slytherin sick.

And speaking of proper Slytherins, Draco felt himself more than abandoned. Millicent, Pansy, and all of the girls who usually fawned over him were now fawning over his worst enemy! It was sickening, and Draco blamed Sue for all of it. It was her fault, of course, because she was the one who made the potion, even if there was something messing with magic.

"…and then I poured it down his throat," Sue explained, never once mentioning Draco's name. "So, can I go look for Mince now?"

"Certainly," Dumbledore said, suppressing a sigh. This girl proved to be more of a hassle than Voldemort. Apparently, the potion she had concocted had gone wrong. And now, every girl in Hogwarts came to class late and left early to escort Harry around the grounds. Luckily, Madam Pomfrey had a stock of remedies for a time like this.

Dumbledore sent for Harry, and was surprised when Harry arrived with all the girls in his Potions lesson. Where they got the nerve to leave Snape's class was beyond him. "We'll wait right here," Hermione promised as Harry tried to shut the girls out of the office.

"The hell with that," Pansy said, shoving Hermione aside and leading the pack into Dumbledore's office.

Snape arrived then, fury on his face. He had to be sent to Pomfrey for a poppy tincture due to all his twitchings and mutterings about how Potter had disrupted his class and ruined the entire lesson.

Harry took a seat and the girls settled themselves around him. Pansy and Hermione sat at his feet, resting their chins on his knees, and Diina was massaging his shoulders.

Dumbledore instructed Harry to see Madam Pomfrey, handing him a note he was to present to her. The girls were dismissed and told to return to their lesson. They grudgingly complied. Dumbledore forced Harry to wait fifteen minutes before personally escorting him to the doors of the Hospital Wing.

Diina pulled a rather convincing stagger into the Hospital Wing. She had purposefully run into a suit of armor, receiving a horrible gash on her forehead, just for an excuse to go to the Hospital Wing. She knew Harry was there.

Pomfrey was busy with Snape in a far corner with her back to the door. Diina slipped up to Harry as he sat down a cup he'd been drinking from.

"What happened to you?" he asked concernedly, staring at her forehead.

"Oh, I'm just so clumsy. I tripped over my own foot and fell smack into a suit of armor," she lied. "What about you?"

"I had to drink this potion. It tasted awful," Harry replied.

"I'll make it taste better," Diina said, leaning in.

Draco held his arm tenderly. When Pansy'd told him that Potter had to go to the Hospital Wing and Diina hadn't returned, he'd burnt himself for a plausible excuse to go to the Hospital Wing and see if Diina was there. If she was, he'd keep an eye on Diina, making sure she didn't go anywhere near Potter.

Thus, he was extremely displeased to walk in and see Diina at Harry's bedside, leaning over him, doing what Draco was positive he didn't want to admit that she was doing, which was frenching with Potter. He scowled, quickly turned it into a grimace of pain (which wasn't hard), and sauntered over to break it up and make it awkward. "Mind if I join the party?" he drawled, tapping Diina on the shoulder with his good arm.

Diina pulled back and stood there, looking from one boy to the other. She tentatively touched her lips, shook her head, and promptly left the Hospital Wing without getting healed.

"BONZAI!" Sue yelled, appearing out of nowhere to tackle Draco to the ground. "LOOK WHAT I FOUND!" She held up a hair between her thumb and index finger. "It's one of Mince's! We'll pick up the trail from where I found it, c'mon!" Draco glowered at her until she finally realized that he wasn't going to help her. "But I made that…you-know-what…for you. I did everything right, it's not my fault if it didn't work. Do you want me to try again?"

"No!" Draco practically shouted. "I don't want your 'help' ever again!"

Madam Pomfrey turned around at that moment. "You!" she shrieked, pointing at Sue. "Out, out! Before you break any more vials of remedies! OUT!"