Just Too Tempting
By Avadne
Chapter 9: A Respected
(A/N: Another rather Draco-centric chapter. Can't neglect my wittle Drakie can I? That was complete SARCASM: I despise it when people call Draco Drakie. Just no. It ruins the bad boy image!)
(A/N 2: Sorry again. I uploaded this chapter before, but it was screwed up, so I had to do it again. Sorry guys)
While Draco wasn't quite as close to the Marauders as Hermione seemed right now, he still had to maintain contact. And he needed to see Hermione very soon. And what's the best way to find a Gryffindor? Stand outside of their Common Room of course, the one that Draco had found the entrance to in 4th year. But instead of getting Hermione, like he hoped, he got none other than Sirius Black.
"Have you seen Mi?" Draco asked him urgently as the black haired boy came out of the portrait hole. Sirius shook his head, confused at the desperate manner in which Draco spoke.
"Why, what's up?" Sirius asked, startled by the other boy's frantic face, eyes wildly traveling around everywhere in search of the girl he seeked.
"I should tell her about the recent events of Slytherin," Draco muttered darkly, forcing himself to calm down a bit. Sirius looked at him silently before taking his arm and literally dragging him away from the portrait hole.
"You can tell me," Sirius said calmly to Draco, leading him into an unknown room. Draco looked at Sirius warily before sighing and giving in. He might as well try to make someone understand. Draco looked at Sirius thoughtfully before talking.
"Well, you would understand, I suppose… Ok, it's like this-" Draco started to tell his tale, but was interrupted before he could even form the first real word.
"Wait a sec, what do you mean that I would understand?" Sirius asked sharply, looking at Draco piercingly. How did he know any of this stuff?
"Uh… I heard about your family. But not important right now, ok. Look, I'm the next recruit, for Death Eaters. But I don't want to be one… so I ignored Them; Lestrange, Snape, Nott and Wilkes and didn't give Them their confirmation. Now the house is down in two; me against Lestrange and Them, basically. But the rest of the house is in it too, now and they'll have to pick their sides, mainly 5th years and up. And there's going to be a fight. Not some stupid amateur 'battle' and not one on one, either…" so for the first time, Draco told someone his full story and what was happening with him. Not with anyone else, but his major problems.
And boy, were they major.
Apart from being shocked, Sirius felt… accepted? No, not exactly. Not alone was more like it. There was someone else with a similar situation to him. And that would be Hunter Brown. Hunter and Mi, the two new students. Hunter, a Slytherin.
And now Sirius knew a bit more of what was going on in Slytherin, Sirius could relate. It sounded a bit like his family life, only mega-sized. Sirius couldn't believe the measures Slytherin, as a whole, but especially Them, took to make sure it's members stayed loyal to the cause. Sirius was sure that no one in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw knew about the Procedural Admittance, including use of Truth Spells, or how They, the powerful members leaded especially by Snape and Lestrange, with Nott and Wilkes as their right-hand men, how They influenced the house so much, how much they covered up and what lengths they took to keep the house loyal. Loyal and secretive; there must be hundreds of safety measures to make sure no one else, not even the teachers -except Slytherin's Head of House- knew about the goings on of the Dark House, as if was nicknamed.
Sirius presumed he knew a bit more than the average non-Slytherin student, thanks to Regulus's ranting up to Sirius's 5th year, before he moved out. But Regulus was 2 years younger, and wouldn't have even gone through the Procedural Admittance until this year, when he entered 5th year. So while Sirius knew what they house was like, he knew naught of the details.
Until Hunter had told him. And it was times like then that Sirius was eternally thankful he had gone against the family, rebelled and landed in Gryffindor. Sirius had now developed a strange bond with 'the new guy' and was anticipating what would happen in Slytherin during the coming days.
But first he had to tell the others.
A knock sounded on the door of the 7th year boys' dormitory in Slytherin. Without waiting for an answer, whoever the person was, opened the door and strolled in. Draco had been on his bed, something he did an increasing amount here, thinking. The dormitory was empty, except for Wilkes, who had spent the last half hour giving Draco sour looks. Draco, however, turned his attention back to the interrupter.
"Who are you?" he asked. It was a girl, he observed. She was very short and her robes hung off her loosely. She stood in front of Draco, tapping her foot impatiently. Long, curly hair that had shockingly bright silver streaks amid the natural black framed her delicate face, button nose and wide mouth; she didn't hesitate in looking at him straight in the eyes, Draco's fake pale blue ones pierced by her intensely golden ones.
"Marlene McKinnon," she replied. Her voice was soft, feathery and unimposing, exactly the opposite of what Draco expected. It was void of emotion, but manipulative and seductive in it's own way. There was a sharp intake of breath from Wilkes. Marlene turned and faced him.
Observing him disdainfully, Marlene smirked at him before saying "Leave." To Draco's immense surprise, Wilkes hunched down and ran off rather quickly.
"I only need to know one thing; are you willing to help me?" Draco asked quickly. Marlene gave a swift nod and Draco gave her a look of gratitude.
"McKinnon?" asked another voice, somewhat similar to Marlene's, but masculine and not quite as alluring or appealing. Snape stood in the doorway, watching the exchange with not much interest.
Marlene inclined her head slightly, but made no other movements to greet the other boy. Frankly, Snape looked as if he couldn't care less. He turned to face Draco directly but blanked his face carefully.
"Our message: It's soon to start. Be ready," he said before sauntering out of the room, his trademark robe-billowing in full swing. Draco observed, out of the corner of his eyes, that Marlene had not moved.
"I've seen a lot in the Dark House. My twin, Meghan is a Gryffindor, and was sure that her being there would jeopardize my position in Slytherin. But it hasn't, as you saw with Wilkes. For no clear reason to me, I get the utmost respect around here… but while I'm loyal to Slytherin, I'm not loyal to Them and the source. I can help," Marlene spoke and Draco, again, was captivated.
"Good. I need all the help I can get at the moment. The House will side with Them at the start… I can only hope they'll change their minds," Draco broke himself out of his trance at the girl in front of him.
"I wonder why they do it to you, like the do to me," Marlene said mysteriously. Draco stared at her, not comprehending the question.
"What?"
"Respect. What do you have that's so obvious? They don't recognize Brown as a Pureblood name and there's no knowledge that you're exceedingly rich, which I supposed are the reasons I get it. What makes you special?" Marlene explained, as if talking to a 5 year old.
"I don't know," Draco answered, only half-lying. It wasn't like Slytherin to behave in this way. They were usually so wary…
"You have the magical power. You have the blood. You have the money. You're not who they think you are, though," Marlene stated before gracefully getting up and walking out without so much as a goodbye. But her speech had added even more to Draco's To Think About List, which was very long, to say the least. Sighing, Draco settled himself onto his bed and mentally reviewed point 1: how did any of this happen?
Draco had a feeling it would be a while before he got to point 2.
"We have things to discuss," Sirius said, unusually solemn. He had gathered round Remus, Pete, Hermione and James –freshly out of the Hospital Wing- for a 'meeting' of sorts.
"What's up, Paddy?" James asked cheerfully. Taking a Bludger to the head had done nothing to his sense of humor.
"What's up with those nicknames is what I want to know," Hermione put in, knowing full well what they were but carefully keeping up appearances; she had kept quiet and not asked previously, but expected that the Marauders expect her to ask. Confusingly enough.
"If we told you… we'd have to kill you," Remus told Hermione smugly, smirking at her. Sirius glared at them and everyone immediately shut up; for one, Sirius almost never acted… well, serious. And two; he had a way of shutting people up, effortlessly gaining respect. Either way, everyone shut up and looked to Sirius.
"Do you know what's going on with the Dark House?" he asked, looking at each of them carefully. No one said a word. Except Hermione.
"A bit. Hunter told me a while ago about the recruiting stuff…" she trailed off, realizing the situation for what it was; urgent.
"Well, it's getting out of hand and fast. There's going to be something big, a fight, I think. Before the Party," Sirius explained. The other boys looked stricken, but Hermione was confused,
"What party?"
"For you, it's a surprise. But it will happen before the 10th of December, then… and it won't be good. They're divided, the house. Hunter on one side, and Them in the hands of Lestrange and Snape, with Nott and Wilkes as back-up," Sirius replied, frowning in thought.
"There's nothing we can do," Remus said, ever so softly. Sirius lifted his head sharply and looked at Remus.
"Of course there is. What do you suggest; we just sit around on our asses while they fight it out?" Sirius asked violently.
"Think about it, Sirius. It's Slytherin; no one interferes, ever. We can't get to them anyway. And it's not to do with us, it's them. It's their own source, their loyalty and not something we understand," Remus told the rest sadly.
"But-" Sirius began in frustration.
"No, Sirius. Remus is right," Hermione said softly. "Hunter can deal with it."
"I'm going. Later," Sirius got up abruptly and walked off to the dormitories. James sighed and both he and Pete got up to follow, leaving Hermione with Remus.
"Thanks," Remus told Hermione casually. Hermione shook her head strongly.
"You're right. Although I'd like to help, we can't," Hermione said unhappily.
"No wonder James talks about you so highly," Remus commented mischievously, a twinkle entering his amber eyes. A smirk graced his fine features and he looked on to Hermione for a reaction.
"Remus," Hermione began warningly, but blushed nonetheless.
"He's got feelings for you, clearly. Mi, you're the first thing since 5th year that made him take his mind off of Lily," Remus told her, a glimmer of awe evident.
"I can't, though," Hermione replied miserably. Remus looked confused at her comment and Hermione immediately regretted saying it.
"Why?" Remus asked conversationally, as if Hermione had spotted a simple problem with a Transfiguration essay or something equally petty.
"I just can't… I can't explain," Hermione stammered out, fearing what conclusions Remus may come to.
"Then careful how you play with his heart," Remus said to her, his voice taking a somewhat cold edge. Then, with one final look her way, Remus left Hermione alone in the Gryffindor Common Room. Alone to ponder on these last few words and how they affected her.
And neither noticed that a certain petite redhead with bright green eyes was at the foot of the stairs to the girls' dormitory, surely overhearing everything said so far. And as Hermione turned around, she thought she saw a flash of red, but waved it off as just her imagination.
How wrong she was.
End chapter 9
This one took me a while to write. Slytherin fight coming up very soon, as well as some Christmas Party preparations
Avadne
Jaid Ziaen
Wow thanks… but did you really see a Hermione/Dumbledore? That's gross! Well, in principle, this is gross too I suppose… But Dumbledore is really old. As for Hermione marrying James… well, you'll just have to wait and see. But the ending is very original, I promise. Anyway thanks a bunch for reviewing
Kris-tina4
Laughter is good. I laugh lots. I have a weird laugh too & everyone disses me for it, but eh. As for Quidditch; well I had no freaking clue of what to do. And JRK always mentions in the books that Harry and James are very alike in looks apart from the eyes… so closed-eyes James would be like closed-eye Harry, right? Anyways have fun x-mas shopping… if only I had $$$ I'd be doing that too. But I don't. And just for reference, summer starts in 5 short days, officially. But it's quite hot… finally, chess sucks. Thanks!
Nissy Padfoot
I'm glad you liked the fluff, because I didn't really know how to write it. And my update was quite late too, sorry about that blushes. I hope you're satisfied.
Gwynn Potter
Hello again. I know my update was bloody slow… sorry. My computer time is WAY too limited. Enjoy though!
Silwen Aurdomiel
Everyone always has Remus as the boring guy that's reading a book while the rest are on the Quidditch pitch… so I thought I'd do things my way. I'm glad to hear you liked it. Thank you very much.
Amy-MWPP
Hello, hello! You've become my newest favourite person for your comment; I luv how u write James he seems more real than the usual James who doesn't have a personality he's just whatever lily wants him to be. Ah, so true! I thought I was the only one who saw the fact that James is completely 2D & just a slave to Lily. Thanks loads to you!
megafreak
I'm sorry, I didn't respond to you last chapter… so here goes, I hope you get to see this. Well I hope you keep liking it then… yes, this is going to have a shock ending. It'd already written and I'm proud to say it's very different. And it's not some little piece of originality like… oh, I don't know, Hermione goes back to her time and James is magically alive or something. Nope, this is way big. Anyway as for me checking out your fic… I did it gladly, and you're SO on my fave authors! It's great, I hope you update the sequel soon!