Dear Readers – sorry for the long wait, I've been working on other stuff. Before you guys start to flame me for any part of this chapter, I'd like to say I don't think J.K would go to this extreme with Harry but it was certainly fun for me. And horrible to write. This chapter was so hard, that's part of the reason it was so late. Hopefully it didn't turn out too awful, but I couldn't work on it anymore without going cross eyed and starting to look for orange sherbert...
The lyrics come from Silverchair's song 'Acid Rain'. The charm Draco uses comes from two French words meaning 'ice' and 'spread'. And replies to reviews are at the bottom of the page :)
Chapter Three: The Snake Inside
Seeps into your little green eyes
Till it meets your brain
Runnin' through all of your brain cells
Till it drives you insane...
"Did you see the look on Weasel's face?" Three slytherins burst into laughter, the fourth merely snorted. Draco Malfoy was the most amused of them all, he kept doubling over leaning on the wall, clutching Pansy to his side with barely composed mirth. His smile hadn't left his face since he'd first seen the reaction of the people he loathed the most. He knew he should have brought down that camera he'd nicked off ...oh...what's-his- name...stupid Gryff's, they all look the same.
"You really are childish, Malfoy." A bored voice drawled behind him.
Draco looked over his shoulder to slide his eyes over the strolling figures of Theodore Nott and his girlfriend Blaise Zabini. Nott was glaring at him, his lips pursed in impatience. Blaise was trying to pretend she hadn't been laughing along with Pansy and Draco.
"Awwww. Is widdle Teddydums upset with the day's proceedings? I'll remember to shed a tear for you this evening." He laughed louder, picked up his pace and all but threw Pansy around the corner. He was excited, he actually wanted to learn with the Gryffindor's today. Snape was one of his Father's best friends, all the Gryff's would be in foul moods and Snape would be just as excited as Draco was...that boded well for lots of point deducting. Draco hadn't thought his grin could widen any further...until he saw them.
"Shhh..." he raised one finger over his lips and winked. Pansy beamed.
Granger was standing by the Potions door, running her hands through her hair in exasperation. It would have been the perfect opportunity to show the arrogant little bitch what real wizardry was, except that two figures were running toward her quickly. Strangely, they weren't Weasel and Potty.
"This must be her reject set." Pansy whispered in Draco's ear and he smiled down at her. Quietly, he withdrew his wand.
"Glacius diffusa." He whispered, pointing his wand at the floor. The slytherins crowded behind him, smirking, as an icy mist poured quickly from the tip of his wand. Instantly the silver-blue ice spread across the stone floor, leaking between the cracks and filling them with a solid, slippery chill. The ice ran to meet the dashing Gryffindor's, their eyes widened, but it was too late for them to stop—
"Ahhhh!" Dean Thomas's foot slid from beneath him, his hands raised up, lashing at the air until they desperately clutched onto the struggling figure beside him. Seamus Finnegan came tumbling down on top of him with a high pitched yelp.
The slytherins roared with ever-growing merriment every time the two bumbling Gryffindor's tried to stand and fell back down. Draco quickly concealed his wand in the arm of his robes. He smiled when Granger turned to glare at him.
"Just what have you stupid Gryffindors been doing down here? Tut, tut." Draco shook his head in mock exasperation. "As a prefect I feel it is my duty to report this blatant disrespect for Hogwarts property. I'm sure Professor Snape will agree with me."
"You prat!" Dean Thomas shouted, lifting his Potions textbook as if he wanted to heft it at Draco's head.
"Too bad your wand is the one that cast the charm," Seamus hissed.
Granger ignored the verbal sparring and pulled out her own wand.
"Protego." Draco hissed even though there was no charm sent in his direction to block. He jumped backwards, holding his hand to his heart. Granger's features contorted in confusion while Pansy and Blaise smiled. There was no way to trace who had cast the spell. "You just attacked a fellow Prefect..." Draco sighed.
Granger's eyes narrowed, darkened with hate. Draco would have been smug if he hadn't noticed her fingers were clenching her wand threateningly tight. But instead of casting a spell on him (that would have only helped his story about an 'attack'), she pointed it at the ground, muttering something beneath her breath. A thick warm steam permeated from the tip of her wand. She brushed it back and forth over the ice, melting it into a damp puddle beneath her disgruntled and slightly soggy housemates.
"All right Dean? Seamus?"
"My ass feels like it just said 'ello to me shoulders." Seamus hissed, clamouring to his feet. He glared at the slytherins before helping Dean to his feet.
"Who do they think they are anyway?" Dean pouted as he rubbed his damp clothes.
"Next time don't run in the halls." Hermione said, though her voice wasn't as scathing as it normally would have been.
Theodore Nott brushed past Draco, walked toward the Gryffindors and leant against the opposing wall. A short time later his housemates followed. The Gryffindors ignored the occasional snaky remarks much to the irritation of Draco.
"Ron said you were both still asleep when he came down..." Hermione bit her lip, turning toward the door to the potions classroom. She didn't want the slytherins to hear; they were the people that would love to spread a rumour, especially about this topic. "Is...is Harry really that bad at night?"
Dean looked at her in shock, his gaze then flicked to Seamus, standing behind her. Seamus shook his head slowly.
Dean smiled at her, his dark face all of a sudden sheepish. "Harry? Oh no," he laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "See I drew this picture of Ginny for her birthday and uh...I seem to have misplaced my sketch pad. I've been searching for it—"
"We've been searching for it. He decided if he was going to freeze his bollocks off, he might as well have some company." Seamus glared at Dean, who smiled in the same sheepish fashion back.
Hermione sighed. "Did you find it?" They shook their heads. She wasn't really interested anyway. They all ignored the slytherins when they laughing loud and abruptly. Hermione studiously kept her eyes pinned to Dean's face. Someone should tell the slytherins that their house symbol is a serpent not a hyena. She lowered her voice further, just in case. "What about Harry, have you seen him?"
"Yeah...we passed him, on our way down here—"
Hermione's eyes widened. "Did he say anything?"
"Well...we were kind of in a hurry." Seamus's voice was nervous, he grimaced when Hermione turned around to glare at him.
"Where was he coming from?" She persisted. Dean sighed. He looked away from her, down the hall.
Where was Snape, anyway? Shouldn't he have been here doing the whole bat- on-a-power-trip thing? Anything was better than an interrogation from Hermione.
"Flying....er...I think. Look I don't know, can we talk about something else?"
Hermione huffed and spun away from him, muttering a tight "Fine" under her breath.
Dean sighed. "I'm buggered is all." He had the dark bags under his eyes to prove it.
"Well...does he at least know about...?" She twirled a curl of her hair, tilting her head to the side, trying to subtly indicate Draco. Dean frowned. "Do you know?"
"Know what?"
"Malfoy's dad was released."
Dean's jaw lowered, he leant closer to her in appalled disbelief. It might have been amusing in another instance.
"Malfoy's dad was what?!" Seamus choked.
"Something caught in your throat, Finnegan?" It would have been hard for Draco to miss the fact that he was now their topic of conversation. His eyes were splintered grey slivers, glinting with a fury repressed for years. Seamus glared right back at him.
"Yeah...bile."
"I find...vengeance has a much sweeter flavour, don't you Pans?" He didn't look at her when he asked the question.
Hermione rolled her eyes as the verbal spar continued, Pansy's high-pitched voice rose to defend her boyfriend while the other two slytherins remained conspicuously silent. Dean was trying to pay attention to the argument, trying to pretend Granger's eyes weren't boring a hole into his forehead.
"What?" He gave up and looked back down to her.
"Does Harry know?" She whispered intently, grasping a hold of the rough material of Dean's sleeves.
"I don't know, Hermione. How could I? But honestly...he probably knew before we did." Dean indicated his forehead with the tap of a finger. Hermione nodded and released her hold.
"I'm so worried about him." She leant back against the wall, checking the dungeon hall for any sign of Snape. She frowned. It was really unusual for him to be late.
Dean was frowning too for a very different reason, he'd just heard a snippet of the conversation Seamus was still having with Draco. Seamus's face was flushed and Draco was grinning with wicked mirth. Dean stiffened.
"That's not true! You take that back!" Seamus hissed.
"Hey Thomas!" Dean flinched when Draco's eyes flicked eagerly to his stunned face. "You're slipping it to Weasel's sister aren't you?" He said casually. Dean glowered. "Of course you are, isn't everyone?" He smiled briefly, moving on like a comic afraid of being cut off before his punch line, "I don't blame you, she has a tight little body...shame about the hair and the family but hey...some relationships aren't about affection. I was just talking with your friend Finnegan here. Asking him his opinion about The Constellation." Draco grinned. Dean hesitated; he didn't want to ask what Draco was talking about because it was so damn obvious it was exactly what Draco wanted him to do. "You know The Constellation," Draco's hand wrapped around Pansy's waist, sliding down, settling over the left cheek of her backside where he smoothed his fingers with a lecherous grin, "right about here."
Dean flushed. Draco could only see his reaction in the horror dawning in the boys eyes. He laughed.
"So...unique, wouldn't you say?"
"You...you evil—" Dean lunged forward with a howl of anger. Hermione and Seamus grabbed a hold of each arm, struggling to pull him back. The inventive insults spewing out of his angry mouth only made Draco laugh louder.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" The slytherins cackled again. Ironically enough, it was the slytherins who were most enjoying Snape's absence while the Gryffindor's were silently pleading their least favourite teacher to show up finally.
"You should be glad a pureblood would touch you, even if she was a Weasley." Draco hissed. "Not much of a challenge though." That's when Dean stopped struggling, he went limp and heavy in his friends' arms. The lids over his eyes lowered in disconcertion.
Hermione couldn't believe he'd let Draco get to him like this. She pushed him on to Seamus and fixed up her robes with obvious agitation. Dean was muttering something, while Seamus kept saying "Don't be ridiculous" over and over again. Dean wasn't listening. Hermione growled, marching forward to meet Draco.
"I don't think you've got the right to speculate about taste, Malfoy." Her eyes moved meaningfully between Draco and his affronted girlfriend. "How exactly do pugs and ferrets copulate?"
Pansy made a noise of outrage, half gasp half scream. She moved to attack Hermione but Draco put his hand out, touched her arm and stopped her instantly. His eyes narrowed, his mouth straightened and Hermione tilted her chin up at him insolently.
"Not very polite, this one." He spoke softly, tilting his head as if considering a repugnant but interesting creature.
"She does present a good point though." A surprising voice spoke softly. Hermione widened her eyes when Theodore Nott winked at her with a wide smile of satisfaction on his face.
Draco didn't acknowledge him, though his interest was no longer held by Hermione either. There was a whirl of black movement to his left and Draco turned quickly, hopeful that it was Professor Snape arrived just in time to teach that mudblood upstart some manners. Unfortunately the black blur turned out to be none other than The Famous Harry Potter. He was strolling toward them with a frown on his brows.
"Harry!" Hermione grinned nervously, shooting a look between Potter and Draco that was strangely anxious. Draco smirked.
"Well, well, well...late as usual Potter. I'll be sure to report you to Snape." Draco intoned, flicking his eyes up and down the mud spattered picture Harry Potter presented. This was the great saviour of the Wizarding World? Please. He'd never been surer he was on the right side than he was right now. Harry's dull eyes looked at him for a moment then he walked where Seamus was still consoling a saddened Dean. He stood there, staring at the wall above Blaise Zabini's head without saying a thing.
"I was just telling your whore here that she should learn some manners." Draco's eyes returned to Hermione, hoping to watch the insult and anger flare across her face.
She was too distracted to care about whatever he could say. She was watching boy-wonder out of the corner of her eyes. Draco was annoyed, Potter was only staring into space there was no way he was more interesting. Draco glared at the boy-who-lived-to-spoil-his-fun, witnessed his jaw clench but no other visible reaction to Draco's vitriol.
"Did the two love-birds quarrel? I don't see him rushing in to defend you." Draco frowned in confusion. "isn't that what he does? Sees a damsel in distress, organise some heroic music, strut into the room, wave his wand a bit and make it back in time for the victory parade. Simple really." Draco scratched his forehead in mock puzzlement.
"Harry doesn't need to defend me, especially not from the likes of you. I could cut my brain in half and still embarrass you." She hissed.
"I'm sure I could fetch a knife to test that theory."
"I heard about your father Malfoy." Harry still hadn't moved his eyes from the position on the wall. His face was strangely blank, almost bored. He was slouched back against the stone wall; his feet were crossed in front of him. It was a shock to hear his measured voice.
"Good news does travel fast." Pansy turned her nose up to Potter in disgust.
Harry's eyes finally slid down the wall, to look at her for a moment, then slowly progressed to her boyfriend's face. Otherwise, he didn't move. "Just got back from his holiday with a large party of friends. I hope he enjoyed himself. Be sure to pass on my regards, I'd hate for him to think we'd all forgotten about him while he was away." The tone of voice Harry was using was much like the one Dumbledore spoke with when he was addressing a rather irritating adversary. It was very unsettling to see such a calm anger in Harry. Her friend didn't know the meaning of such an oxymoronic emotion, he wasn't that complex. Anyone could see his emotions, his eyes usually blazed with them. It had been one of his most obvious weaknesses and greatest strengths. Not any more. Hermione couldn't take her eyes from him, she wanted him to be that naively honourable boy again. The boy that wore his heart on his sleeve because he didn't know there was another way.
Pansy made a noise of indignation. "Shut up, Potter!"
"There's no need to be rude Pansy, Potter is just trying to be civil." Draco spoke through his teeth. He took one step toward Harry then his whole body stiffened. Harry was still mostly relaxed though Hermione could see a faint tensing in his shoulders. She subconsciously backed away as the two continued to stare at each other.
It was actually quite funny to see that vein in Draco's forehead throb in such an unattractive way. His nostrils flared with the strain of reeling back his temper; his jaw clenched and unclenched. But his stance was pure ice. He stood there, pale and livid like he'd been carved out of the very heart of Winter. She had no idea what he was thinking, his face was empty now, the anger gone, leaving nothing at all behind.
"I'll be sure to pass on your compliments." Draco monotoned, "since you're being so very, very civil, I feel a compulsion to return the gesture. I've wanted for so long to offer you my condolences, Potter." There was nothing overtly malicious about the words but Harry reared backwards as if Draco had stunned him. Draco smiled. "I heard that mutt of yours got put down recently. I saw it once...pathetic looking creature wasn't it?" He sighed dramatically, his eyes absorbing Harry's reaction with pure relish. "Ah, you're still upset I see. Just accept it, that's what happens to mongrels who turn stray in the Wizarding World."
It was all too fast to tell what happened first.
"Harry don't—"
A blinding red light.
Laughter.
A cry like an enraged animal.
"DRACO!"
A wand arm raising.
Draco flying through the air like he was made of paper.
Pinned to the wall.
The heavy steps of feet.
Screaming.
A wand rolling on the ground... The laughter.
"Nice shot, Potter." Theodore Nott said with a crooked grin.
Harry didn't look at him; his whole body was trembling save his rigidly steady arm. It pointed out like an accusation, the dark wood of his wand still clasped so tightly that his knuckles were white, the smoking tip aimed at Draco's heart. Draco was pressed to the Slytherin side of the hall, about one metre from the ground. His breath was laboured, his eyes wide with fright. Pansy was currently tugging at his feet trying to pull him back down while Nott stood and laughed.
"H-Harry...." Hermione whispered. She moved to clasp his arm. The action jolted him and he snarled again, whipping his wand arm to the left. Draco's body followed the movement and he screamed as he was thrown from the wall, flung into the open space of the hall and slammed into the ground. He shouted out in pain, flipping over to his backside to crab-walk backwards. Harry followed him, wand raised offensively.
Dean and Seamus were edging backwards, watching Harry with terror. Hermione looked at them pleadingly for only a moment before she realised they were going to do nothing. They didn't even know who Sirius was to Harry.
"Harry, please! He's not worth it."
"I'll decide what he's worth!"
Sparks of red light sprung from Harry's wand, Draco's twitching body rose from the ground then slammed back down again with a sickening thud. Harry's eyes were shining with such hatred he looked crazed. Hermione for the first time wanted to see him reassert that cool which had been concealing all of this rage from her.
Pansy, only just recovering from her shock, drew her own wand. She raised it to Harry's back.
"Expelliarmus!" Her wand flew out of her hand, caught by the graceful hands of Blaise Zabini. It wasn't her that had spoken. Nott reached forward and pulled Pansy behind him. He maintained a hold of her wrist as he continued to speak in her ear. "Now, now Pansy. Not until he tags you."
Draco's body slammed into the ground again and now Hermione was screaming at her friend to stop. Her body was shaking in fright.
"Harry stop this. I know he's a...a-a prat," she blushed at her inarticulate description, blundering on none-the-less, "but...but don't do this...you're scaring me!"
He didn't hear her, his eyes were hungrily fixed on Draco. He felt something inside of him raging with uncontrollable hate. There were jaws lashing out wildly in his stomach, jaws and a long slithering body, rolling around his spine and filling his blood with venom. Draco didn't deserve a lot of things, but Harry was certain he deserved this. They all did. But however many walls Harry's wand slammed this snake into, he still wouldn't learn. This wasn't what Harry really wanted to do.
He lowered his arm when a single line of blood trailed from Draco's hairline down across his pale face. Draco breathed heavily, slumped back onto his shoulders, whimpering in pain. He raised his hand to his face, felt the blood and cried out in horror.
"He's trying to kill me, you all saw. You'll be out this time Potter!"
"I would have killed you...but you're really not worth it." Harry hissed. He slid his wand into his robes.
The slight turn of his head made him oblivious to the pallor suddenly infusing Draco's already pale cheeks. He started crawling backwards again. That voice...he'd only heard it once before but it had failed to terrify him like this back then.
"H-Harry..." Hermione backed away too, her hand covered her mouth and all other students stared at Harry in shock.
He never used parseltongue. Never.
"That doesn't mean I won't beat the hell out of you." Harry shouted and ran at Draco pouncing on him before the other boy knew what was happening.
"NO!" Hermione yelled. She ran forward to pull her friend back. It wasn't working. The two boys rolled, issuing curses and fumbling punches. Harry slammed Draco's head into the ground and the pale faced boys punches instantly became more drunken than sloppy.
"Don't (punch) you (punch) ever talk (punch) about Sirius (punch, punch) again!" Harry was screaming. The snake inside bucked and writhed with every movement of his body, he was delirious with energy, the rage consumed him and he let it happen for there was only one person in the world he hated more than Draco Malfoy and he was late. Harry was straddling Draco now, pounding a closed fist into the boys face over and over again. When the blood started to pour down his face it only meant that he was succeeding. Draco Malfoy felt nothing, this wasn't about pain. Harry had never felt such anger consuming him, his skin was on fire, and someone was laughing so ridiculously high pitched that this manic behaviour felt right. It was funny to see Draco's head moving like a puppets head sagging against its strings.
"POTTER!"
Harry yelled out in fury when he was suddenly dragged off Draco by an invisible hook. He slammed into the ground, stood up swiftly and swung around to face his assailant. His wand was out before he realised he'd reached for it and now it was pointing at the hooked nose of a very irate Severus Snape.
"What pray tell, do you think you're doing?" The Potions master snarled.
Harry breathed heavily, his face slightly smeared with blood, his or Draco's it didn't matter, but it was there. Harry smiled slightly but didn't lower his wand. "Just teaching Malfoy a lesson sir."
Snape sneered, his lip curled when he looked to where Draco was lying unconscious on the floor. "That's my job, Mr Potter." Snape intoned with obvious restraint. It was clear he wanted to say something else, Harry wanted him too as well. Instead he merely looked at the long black length of Harry's steady wand. "Lower your wand. Now."
"Drakie..." Pansy whimpered and ran past Harry and Snape. She dove onto the flattened body of her boyfriend. He groaned slightly when she shook his chest. "Wake up!"
"Get off me..." He said and she drew back with a triumphant cheer.
"Oh he didn't kill you! Thank Merlin." She said softly, clutching a hand to her heart.
It didn't matter if he was still alive; Draco had certainly seen better days. Had he stepped in front of his magical mirror now he doubted it would have given him its usual growl of approval, more like a shriek of horror. His nose was broken, in at least two places, his bottom lip was cut, so was his left eyebrow and he was sure to have two black eyes. He was a bloody mess, his new robes were ruined and now he was completely humiliated by the same arrogant twat responsible for every other humiliation he'd suffered at this wretched school.
"He tried to kill me, sir! He attacked me, I didn't even punch him!" Draco hissed as authoritatively as he could, considering his whirling head.
"Ain't that the truth..." Seamus snickered.
"Silence!" Snape hissed and the snide chuckling stopped abruptly. He turned his powerful black glare to Harry, narrowing his eyes when Harry still refused to lower his wand arm.
"Harry..." Hermione whispered insistently. Just do it. She'd never seen Snape look at someone which such loathing, and he'd looked at Harry hatefully many times in the past. Surely a dragon would whimper before such a glower. Not Harry. He stood there and rolled his eyes as if he was very bored by a tedious order.
"I was finished here anyway." Harry said and lowered his wand, sliding it back into his robes.
He returned his now blank gaze to Snape and slumped into the same boyishly awkward posture he'd always had. His back was still facing Draco. Hermione risked a glance in that direction, saw Draco slapping Pansy's hands away as she tried to wipe away with blood with a little saliva and a Malfoy handkerchief.
"That's pure silk, Pansy! For Merlin's sake use your wand!"
"A hundred points from Gryffindor for attacking a prefect unprovoked; raising your wand to a teacher and superior; along with your usual insolence. As for detentions," Snape's lip curled, "you may have to start living with Mr Filch."
Harry shrugged. "It was worth it."
Oh he was looking at him now and it was hard to suppress the urge. He could almost here something inside him hissing and lunging, sliding and snapping its long venomous teeth. This is him...him.
"It will be a travesty of justice if you somehow escape expulsion."
"Justice doesn't seem to be high on the Wizarding agenda these days, just look at—"
"Silence you insolent little fool!" Snape stepped into Harry's face, he was so angry his cheeks almost had colour in them. The hall was deadly silent after his outburst. A muscle in his cheek twitched. "Report to the Headmaster's office immediately."
Harry flinched, moved backwards as if he would have obeyed. Then Hermione saw his jaw clench and he stepped back to his original position, defiantly staring down Snape. Snape's lip curled into a cruel sneer. Then he turned briskly to his class.
"Miss Parkinson get off the floor and stop blubbering this instant."
Pansy looked up to him in shock, but she stood to command like a soldier. One glare sent the rest of the class scurrying into the classroom, even Nott. Hermione paused in the doorway, looked back at Harry who refused to move his eyes from the spot Snape had whirled away from. His eyes were now fixed on a patch of air; his hands were clenched into fists. Indeed, his whole body seemed to be clenched, only his hair remained wildly loose. Hermione blinked, squeezed the side of the door for a moment before starting back toward him.
"What did I say Miss Granger?"
"I just wanted—"
"I don't care—" Snape started to yell when Draco sounded a particularly loud groan. The boy tried to sit up but quickly slumped back down again. Snape smiled cruelly, flicking his eyes back to the startled Gryffindor girl. "You," he jabbed a finger in her direction, "Miss Granger, have a duty to your fellow prefect. Do kindly escort the victim of Potter's insane violent streak up to the Hospital wing. If I hear one whisper about you treating Mr Malfoy in the same manner as your housemate, I'll have your badge."
Hermione paled, her large shocked eyes shot to where Harry stood. When he still refused to acknowledge her she ran to Malfoy's crumpled form and muttered a quick "mobilocorpus."
Snape turned back to the classroom, "Miss Parkinson, you will watch this class until I return. If I come back to find even one potion incomplete the entire class will find something very interesting in their pumpkin juice this evening." He slammed the door shut, twitched his body around in a circle. His face muscles contorted as he stalked back to where Harry stood. "I thought I told you to get out of my sight."
Harry's eyes moved from that section of air he'd been staring at. His green eyes were sharp with pure loathing. "I'm not scared of you." He'd sworn never to forgive this man, never to shudder and bow before him again. It was only hate that had kept Harry sane that past Summer. The last thing he cared about was Snape finding out about the depth of his hate. He wanted him to know. "You're despicable but you don't frighten me."
"You'll never change, you—" Snape visibly restrained himself, his wand hand clenched and unclenched. "You just attacked a student; I'm quite certain you would have killed Mr Malfoy had I not come along."
"It is a possibility." Harry shrugged.
"Listen to me you insolent fool, I don't care what the Headmaster says about you, you're just like your father – you think you're above everyone, that it doesn't matter how many people you hurt; you have no regard for rules or human life, and I can't wait until—"
Harry laughed; it was a cold, hearty guffaw that made Snape pause. "Until what? Until your real boss gets to kill me?" Harry refused to back down even though his hand was starting to twitch with the need to grab his wand. "I can't wait either. I'd almost be grateful to get it done. At least he's honest about who he is." Harry looked Snape up and down with disgust. "And excuse me if I didn't realise we were talking about a human being. I thought we were discussing Malfoy and as far as I'm concerned he's somewhere beneath the ass of a blast-ended skrewt."
They were both shifting, the violent electricity in the air was almost unbearable. Both felt the blood rushing through their veins, the dark urge clamouring to control their fingers...
"Follow me, Potter." With a whirl of his robes Snape stalked away from him. He was walking toward Dumbledore; vengeance or punishment. Harry gazed after him for a moment, his mouth set in a grim line. He wouldn't hang his head, he wasn't shamed or afraid. He followed his Professor at the same brisk pace.
Hermione walked as fast as she could, guiding Draco's floating body left, right, up and down. She just wanted to be rid of his presence. He'd snapped out of his delirium about three staircases ago and hadn't shut up since.
"Put me down this instant!"
"Have it your way." She raised her wand briskly and Draco's injured body tumbled to the ground. The curses he started to sling at her only made her smile widen.
"Watch yourself, mudblood."
"Your mouth is clearly functioning again, my guess is your head will catch up soon enough." Hermione stepped backwards warily when Draco used the bronze frame beside him to pull himself to his feet.
"Earthquake! Earthquake!" A victorian maiden shouted in the painting before darting off into the next painting along. Hermione watched her retreat before returning her hard gaze to Draco.
"I'm sure you can find your way from here, now if you'll excuse me—"
"You were told to escort me, surely you wouldn't make it that easy for me to take your badge?"
Hermione couldn't be bothered to argue. She turned and began walking briskly toward the infirmary, leaving Draco to trail behind her. But Malfoy stayed where he was. It took her ten steps to realise he was going to be a stubborn git. She turned around in anger and stomped back toward him.
"If you don't move I can put the hex right back on you."
"You were supposed to escort me—"
She grunted in frustration. "What do you want me to do? Curtsy and offer you my arm, you sadistic prat?!"
"Sure." He said with an easy smirk. "Well, let's see it." She only gaped at him.
"I'd rather be the warden taking off your Father's cuffs than bow to you." She said.
Draco's eyes gleamed. "I bet you would. Touching a fine pureblood like that would just make your day wouldn't it, mudblood? I bet your head is just full of dirty thoughts about my Father..."
"The only thought filling my head is that Dumbledore should have killed him when he had the chance!"
Draco raised his hand palm inwards, poised to backhand her. He stopped himself, but not before Hermione realised his intentions. She didn't flinched, merely shook her head, chuckling mirthlessly. She refused to acknowledge her pounding heart.
"Go on Malfoy, make it that easy for me to have your badge."
"You'll all regret the insolent way in which you've treated me."
"Awww. They always say school bullies hurt others because they're hurting. Well if you want someone to kiss your ego better you're going to have to slither off and find your girlfriend because I'd rather swallow a flobberworm. I don't think we'll regret anything. That blood gushing from your nose is proof enough that you'll never be the wizard Harry is. You're not even a minor register on his list of concerns. Swallow that one, Malfoy." She flicked her bushy hair and turned on her heels.
Malfoy's veins were pumping ice; his chest clenched, something in his heart prickled with pure hate and his wand was in his hand before he knew it. She was walking way, strutting like the pretentious little snot she was – he raised his wand and a jet of red sparks shot right past her left ear. She screamed and jumped to the side, whirling around to face him.
"I could have had you then. Swallow that one, Granger."
Before Malfoy could finish smirking Hermione had pulled her own wand and shouted "Petrificus Totalus."
His limbs snapped rigidly straight, arms locked beside his legs. His body teetered for a few moments – backwards, forwards –then he keeled over and slammed into the ground. Darts of pain invaded his chest where bruises were present; he could even feel his pulse in his lips. His eyes couldn't blink, or close in embarrassment, so he saw her smug grin when she looked down at him with her hands on her hips.
"Could have...should have...would have." She grinned evilly. "Mobilocorpus." She disappeared from sight and Draco was not about to regret the loss of her cocky face.
He felt himself rise off the floor. She guided him left and right, up and down until he heard the startled voice of Madam Pomfrey ushering him into the hospital wing. His temper festered and simmered with the urge to boil over, but he couldn't even curse in his current condition. They would all pay, Snape included. Imagine making Granger escort him to the hospital when someone devoted and caring like Pansy could have taken care of him much more affectively. He heard her Mary Janes clip clopping out of the infirmary, felt the screaming muscles around his mouth deflect the growl that had risen in his throat. She was merrily whistling 'Puff the Magic Dragon' and he couldn't possible hate her any more than he did.
TBC....
Mariona: Thanks so much, I'm so happy :)
La Kitsa: I hope you still are happy with my character portrayals even though Harry is a little more agro than I think he'll turn out in the next book. Sorry for the long wait.
Alley Mack: lol. I suppose confusion is a good thing because it means i haven't hit the predictable plateau yet. Never fear, I'm only a couple of chapters in. I had to get rid of all the transitional stuff first. It should become clearer soon, but hopefully not too clear.
Verybadgirl: Hey there beautiful. I'm so glad to have finally written something that didn't dead-bird-gaze you, feel free to tell me if that happens though :) I love your brutal honesty. I don't care if you know where I live as long as you don't pass that information on. :)
Brinker: Well...to tell you the truth it was me who pimped it at Sleeping with the Enemy so I have pimped it a little. I don't really think there is anything to pimp yet, because the herm-draco interaction is at a minimum. But you can pimp it all you like :) I'll give you seven gold stickers!
Kristywroth: 'Interesting' I like that. As this story has a subplot there will be the occasionally Draco-free chapters, but the major theme is the somewhat strange relationship with his family so I hope you'll stick around.
Cinammon: Yay! Thanks so much for clicking with my characterisations. Phew. I know how psychotic Potter fans are about getting it right so I was nervous. As far as Ginny goes, the only real character trait J.K really gave her was her strength in book five, so I took that and ran with it in a wacky direction, sorry if it went a little too OOC but I'm glad you like it.
midnightdimunds: HEY!! I'm so happy you're reading my story it's a huge ego boost! lol I hope Harry turned out the way you wanted him to, his sort of having problems dealing...but it sure is fun making him snap. Exhaustive detail - HA! Yeah that's one way of putting it, I get carried away sometimes blushes If you like the cigarettes stick around, he's never too far from them. Every chapter is going to have some silverchair in it, so I hope it keeps you happy :) It's so amazing to find someone on the other side of the planet that loves the best aussie band in the world. Amazing. I just got back from holidays down the coast, but I saw your story has been updated so I'll get on to it right after I've posted this! hugs
Snow-Queen1: About the 'brown eyes' thing, I scoured the whole chapter looking for what you were referring to, but I only found mentions of Ron and Draco's eyes - both of which are blue. Could you point it out to me? Maybe I didn't word it write. Anyway, I'm really wondering what you think of Harry now that he's actually made an appearance. Hope it's still positive. Keep reading, I always love your reviews!
