Heaven Tastes Sweeter
Chapter Fifteen
The small group reached the Great Hall silently. Pansy didn't know whether the reason of this sudden quietness resided in the fact that everyone was very much concentrated on the task ahead or, as the Slytherin feared, everyone was afraid to speak about it.
As soon as they entered the huge room, everyone stopped doing whatever had them occupied to look up at them.
The whole world seemed to have been in pause. No one talked, even the castle itself was eerily quiet. Pansy thought that it had to be only an impression but, looking at Draco and the rest of the members of the group, the girl realised that everyone were of her same opinion.
"Okay, people, I would like all of you to go as quickly and quietly as possible to each of your house's common rooms. We have something to tell you…" Hermione said, finally breaking the increasingly uncomfortable silence.
Then, almost funnily, everyone remembered how to move and, while whispering furiously among them, they started walking out of the Great Hall, towards their respective common rooms.
"Draco, you know what you're supposed to do, don't you?" Hermione said and, by using Draco's first name instead of his surname, Pansy could tell the Gryffindor was a lot more nervous than she appeared.
"Yes Hermione, don't worry about the Slytherins…" Draco said.
Pansy let herself a very tiny smile noticing Draco's small amusement seeing Hermione's shock at hearing Draco referring to her as 'Hermione', not as 'Granger' or any of the not very sweet names Draco had been known to use to call the Gryffindor.
"Er…okay then…good luck!" Hermione said before turning to follow her fellow Gryffindors.
"Let's go Pansy…" Draco said grabbing her hand pulling her softly towards him.
"Yes…" Pansy managed to reply.
When they got to the dungeon that served as the Slytherins' common room, everyone, including Professor Snape was there.
The Potions master looked at his former favourite student obviously curious to see what Draco was going to do. Pansy saw that her fiancé didn't have any intentions of making the teacher wait for too long so, she tried to let go of Draco's hand to go and find somewhere to sit down.
"No…stay with me, please…" Pansy heard Draco whisper.
Pansy simply nodded and stayed there with him and, as soon as Draco checked that she was just going to do that, he let go of her hand and said:
"Fellow Slytherins…thank you for getting to our common room so fast…I will start by saying that I know most of you may not have a very good opinion of me and my family, specially after what happened last year…and I know I shouldn't be entitled to speak for any of you since I've been away from Hogwarts for a quite a long time…but, what we are about to face needs everyone of you to stand united…so, if there is anyone who thinks that is better suited than me to lead Slytherin, I want him or her to speak up now…" Draco paused briefly as to clearly give the opportunity for any potential candidate to speak.
Pansy looked at him. The tension radiating from him was so intense that Pansy thought she could have grasped it.
Unsurprisingly, no one spoke so, after a bit, Draco reassumed his speech:
"Okay, since no one has spoken, I will assume that no one is against me leading you during the upcoming battle…"
That last word broke all hells loose. Everyone started speaking at the same time and Pansy saw that some of the smaller kids had a hard time not to start crying.
Professor Snape was about to intervene when, once more, Draco preceded him.
"QUIET!" Draco shouted causing an immediate silence, only interrupted by a stifled sob coming from a first year.
Before they had time to start speaking again, Draco said:
"People, in case you haven't noticed, we are at war…and that means that there will be battles to be fought…this is precisely why I, I mean we, need to know if we're ready to stand united…a few of us have had a meeting with Professor Dumbledore and he's certain he's got the support from the other three houses…but he's not too sure about us…I have promised to him that we are ready and that we'll fight alongside the other houses…do you people want to be less than them? I'm asking you people, do you want Gryffindor to go down in history as the house that defeated the Dark Lord? Aren't you tired of being considered inferior to the Gryffindors? Because I, for one, am very tired of that…we Slytherins are well known for our cunning…and, whereas some people may not consider it a compliment, I think that in order to win this war, together with the courage of the Gryffindors, the cleverness of the Ravenclaws and the determination of the Hufflepuffs, we will also need to be every bit as astute as our enemy…"
Draco was about to continue when someone whose name Pansy couldn't remember, said:
"But Malfoy, among you-know-who's army are members of our families…how can you consider them enemies?"
Draco stared at him for a bit, as if choosing the words very carefully before replying.
"Yes, you're right. Unfortunately, some of our relatives have chosen to give their support to the Dark Lord…and there is nothing we can do about it…but I want you to consider this: anyone who is in his side, is our enemy now. Because they are fighting to destroy our world. My father once thought that the Dark Lord was fighting to get rid of the muggle borns and all of those people who didn't have the right to use magic and, I won't deny that I supported this cause very actively. This, however, changed drastically once we found out that the Dark Lord himself is a muggle born. I will be very honest to you all, I still have my reserves about non-purebloods using magic but, I've had time to consider that, in reality, only a handful of us can be truly considered a pureblood…and, I've also come to realise that if only true purebloods were to use magic, very soon the magic folk would be extinct…and, in my opinion, that'd be even worse than letting the muggleborns use their magic powers…wouldn't it?" Draco stated more than asked.
The boy who had asked the question took a brief moment to consider and, after a short while, he nodded his agreement.
"Okay, we don't have time to waste now…so, I take we all agree that we need to fight with the other houses…"
Draco stopped as if waiting for something to happen.
"Well? Are we?" Draco asked and the slightly impatient tone of his voice reminded Pansy of the old Draco.
"YES!" everyone, at once, shouted so suddenly that it provoked a startle to Snape. That, together with the satisfaction of knowing that he had achieved his target, made Darco smile.
"Okay…well, we know that the Dark Lord's ultimate targets are the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts…because these two institutions are the most representative in our world. We are sure that the Ministry will be well protected by the aurors. Unfortunately, the aurors also need to protect our homes and our relatives so, we've been told that there will be no aurors here to defend Hogwarts. That's up to us and, naturally, up to our teachers. I am now going to tell you part of the plan that I have come up together with Potter…"
Draco took yet another pause, this time he looked at Pansy as if fearing what he had to say next. He carried on, nonetheless.
"To start with, I have agreed with Potter that the first and second years should be kept somewhere safe. We've decided to avoid the Great Hall...we don't want to make it too easy to the Death Eaters to find the weakest of all…so, we've decided that all first and second years are to stay in their houses' common room. Third years will also stay there but, their task will be to protect the younger students in the very unfortunate case that the Death Eaters make it to the common rooms. That, will be the fourth years job: you are to prevent any such thing from happening. Everything clear so far?"
Everyone nodded. Draco noticed with pleasure, that he had every student's utmost attention.
"Great. Now the tricky bit…the fifth and sixth years will be stationed throughout the school getting rid of any intruders. It is important that you keep, at all times, in groups of five. No one and I mean, no one is to remain alone in any case. Is that understood?"
Everyone nodded again except one sixth year.
"Why five?" she asked.
"Easy…we've agreed that it's the safest bet. If in the group of five any of you gets hurt, two will be able to go and get help and the other two will be able to stay with the injured. This leads me to the other set of instructions. If any of you gets hurt and needs assistance, the injured and two others will seek cover and the other two will proceed, with the maximum caution, to get said help. The whole group is to consider themselves out of the fight…I want no heroisms, from anyone. Okay?"
His question was, once more, met by a generalised nod.
"Finally, the seventh years. Our responsibility is to take care of the grounds. That is the most difficult and dangerous job…we don't know where the Death Eaters will be coming from so we have to be extra careful. Unfortunately, there aren't enough of us to get groups of five so we'll be patrolling in groups of three. However, the same rule applies in case one of the three gets injured. One stays with the wounded and the other goes to get help."
"Where will this help be?" Pansy heard herself ask.
"The teachers. The teachers will try to cover as much of the school and its grounds as possible. You are to find a teacher if you need help…" Draco replied.
"What about Madam Pomfrey?" Pansy asked.
"She will stay with a group of three seventh years in the hospital wing…any seriously injured student will be transferred there. The teachers will decide who really needs Madam Pomfrey's assistance and who can wait in their hiding place. Is that clear?"
"Sure…" Pansy replied as if the question had been directed to her. She saw the others nod.
Then Draco, after taking a deep breath, added:
"As for me…I will be going with Potter. Ours is the most difficult task. We will seek and, hopefully, destroy the Dark Lord."
Pansy felt his gaze on her at the same time that she heard herself gasp.
"What!" she wanted to shout but, obviously, her vocal cords were refusing to cooperate for no sound came out of her mouth.
She was about to pass out when she saw Professor Snape finally getting up to speak.
"Now that we all know what we're going to be doing, I want to announce that for obvious reasons and till further notice, there will be no lessons, we all need to prepare for the battle ahead, Draco has already mentioned that we will need to form groups. The students forming these groups will be decided by us teachers. Unfortunately, the members of the D.A. are nowhere near enough to make sure that every group will contain a D.A. member in it so, it's been decided that us teachers will try to assemble the groups mixing the best possible skills so each group is as evenly skilled as possible. The groups will be announced tomorrow morning and the list of names will be pinned up to the board in the Great Hall. One more thing, also till further notice, we want everyone back in the common room by 6pm, no exceptions. Dismissed."
Everyone started walking away with very worried but determined expressions.
Pansy was about to say something to Draco when she saw Professor Snape walking up to them.
"Draco, I'm very proud of you…your speech was truly inspiring" the Potions master said and, to Pansy, he actually sounded sincere.
"Professor…if we could win this war with a speech I'd talk to the end of the times…unfortunately, we'll need more…much more…" Draco replied sounding, for the first time, not entirely sure of himself.
With this, and without sparing a glance at her, he turned around and walked away from them.
Pansy looked at Professor Snape worriedly. Only after seeing Snape's confused expression, Pansy started walking, then running, after Draco.
To be continued…
A/N: I'm sure some of you had given up on me…after all it's been ages since I last updated this fic…unfortunately, I had some very annoying personal problems and I haven't had the head nor the heart to keep writing. Things are getting much better now so I should be able to continue, and hopefully, very soon, finish this story.
I want to thank you for your kind reviews and I want to deeply apologise for the delay.
Thank you!