Just Too Tempting
By Avadne
Chapter 10: A Surprise
(A/N: I don't know if people got an Alert for the last chapter, so you can try going back to check if you've read it…)
"Now," Marlene whispered. Draco had come down to the Slytherin Common Room, fully prepared for anything. But Marlene's whisper had shocked him still. Why now? Draco thought to himself desperately.
"Brown," Lestrange spat out. Draco merely looked at him, without reply. Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw a slight smirk form on Snape's mouth. Draco observed his surroundings carefully; Marlene was on his right, Snape was next to her again. Lestrange stood a few meters in front of him, with Nott and Wilkes behind him and flexing their muscles. Next to Wilkes, They had gained a new member; a rather weedy looking boy that Draco recognized as 5th year, Evan Rosier.
Around the room, Draco also spotted the rest of the Slytherin 6th year boys, as well as the 5th years. One looked surprisingly familiar, a lot like Sirius. Regulus Black, Draco realized with shock. Regulus stood about half way between Draco and Lestrange, on the side and leaning against the wall. Draco couldn't help but also note that apart from Marlene, there was only a single girl; probably 7th year and had the Goth look going on. Draco concentrated on the whispers that he heard around the room.
"It's starting,"
"The end is here,"
"No more Them,"
"Serpensortia Alei Engorgio," a massive snake, much larger than the one that had appeared in the Dueling Club of 2nd year, was produced from someone's wand. It slithered to the centre of the room before disappearing in a puff of smoke. That was the signal to begin. At once, curses were being thrown everywhere.
"Flipendo," Draco yelled out, blasting Lestrange back into the wall. He was too busy to see who was fighting who, but got a peek of Marlene Body-Binding Rosier before moving on to her next victim. In an instant, someone was beside him and swiftly cursing anyone in their way. Draco craned his neck in an effort to see who it was, but only caught billowing black robes. Draco shook his head and turned his attention back to the duel.
"Arachni Sorta," Lestrange had just sent the latest at him, a good 1000 spiders making their way to Draco, who banished them easily. He knew that these spells, while basically harmless now, would only get more and more dangerous, until they got to the Crucio's and maybe even Avada's. It wouldn't really shock him; it was Lestrange after all. The guy was nuts.
The billowing cloak figure stepped in to take over the duel with Lestrange, leaving Draco free to point and eliminate. Draco settled on temporarily knocking his targets unconscious, leaving everyone else free to fight & with no real lasting damage.
"Inconscientus," Draco yelled out, left, right and centre. He had just enough time to duck and roll a jet of red light sent his way; a jet of blue light that looked suspiciously like the Bone-breaker, a nasty curse that could potentially kill. Draco knew that the fight was quickly getting dirty and he needed the support.
"Assai Del Segno," Draco had cast the best shield he could manage, one that would gain strength each time it was hit, and paused to look around, observe the damage. Marlene was still up and kicking the asses of guys twice her size, a smirk on her face. The Goth like girl also appeared to have taken Draco's side and was now in a one-on-one duel with a 7th year called Ellis Jugson.
"Kitte Imasu," Draco had just enough time to duck an arrow shot at his head through a spell of one of Lestrange's cronies. This was getting bad very fast.
There were 2 big surprises in store for Draco. The first one was the person dueling with Lestrange was… Snape. Yes, dark, billowing cloak Snape, co-leader of Them was going against the cause. Interesting. But Draco was thankful anyway.
"Pesante," Snape had just used a handy little spell that made Lestrange feel as though he was constantly getting punched very hard in the stomach. Snape was grinning (which looked strangely out of place on his usually blank face) as Lestrange keeled over in pain.
The other surprise was who was dueling with 5th year William Avery; it was Regulus Black. Now all Draco had to do was find out which one he should root for. But a second later, he had his answer. Black had sent a sneaky little Leg Locker onto Avery, forcing the other boy to fall over. Black sensed someone watching, turned around and gave Draco a thumbs up before returning to another fight.
The disadvantage to the Assai Del Segno shield was that it took lots of power to keep up and Draco's power was quickly draining from the strain to keep it up. So he let it go, ready to get hit immediately. But he noticed, with surprise, that he wasn't getting hit with many curses at all. Someone was stopping them. That's when he saw two 5th year brothers, Fabian and Gideon Prewett happily blocking any curses sent Draco's way and equally happily send a few of their own especially powerful spells for their age. He had only seen the dynamic duo miss one target so far.
"Diffindo," he heard Snape yell. Draco broke down his shield, ready to go help his newly acquired and definitely powerful ally. But he never got the chance, because a second later, some unknown person had blasted him into the wall; Draco felt at least 3 ribs crack under the pressure. Draco slowly made his way up again, moving carefully and ready to get revenge. But the next word made him freeze in cold blood.
"Crucio," Lestrange had cast the Crucio. And Draco watched with despair as it connected. Without thinking about it, Draco ran up and rammed Lestrange down bodily, stopping the curse. Snape had fallen to the grown, but clearly refused to scream. He had been writhing in pain but stopped now and got up. Silently, he slinked over to Lestrange's fallen form. Careful to avoid Draco, he went wild and let loose with a flurry of curses and jinxes that even Draco's sharp ears couldn't keep up with. The end result was a mangled, deformed, unconscious and hardly breathing Lestrange. Draco was sure that some of those deforming spells were permanent too.
With Lestrange down, as their leader, the ones following him became a lot weaker and unprepared. But before anyone could really act it seemed that someone had rebelled against the universal rule; what goes on in Slytherin stays in Slytherin. Rushing in through the portrait hole was the Slytherin Head of House, Professor Borealis, accompanied by McGonagall.
"What is going on here?" McGonagall demanded in fury. Borealis remained silent, shaking her head in disappointment. Not disappointment for the actions, but because they were caught. She knew about what went on with Slytherin, it's source, but McGonagall didn't.
And so, with half of the Common Room in ruins from the spell damage, and unconscious or mangled or both bodies lying around, no one said a word. What could they possible explain?
Draco was in a much better mood. All of the visible signs of 'the fight' were hidden under the robes. He refused to get them healed. And Lestrange had gone for the same theory… but he suffered a black eye and bust lip. Not to mention Snape's flurry of spells, the one that left him with boils all over his arms, exceeding amounts of body hair and a few other deformations. Draco observed it with satisfaction, while Marlene smirked in their enemy's direction. Snape sat on Draco's other side, his face, as usual, carefully blank. But there was a glimmer of triumph in his eyes that Draco didn't miss. Of curse, their success was slightly clouded by their 200 point deduction and detention for a month and the removal of certain privileges. McGonagall said she had never been more disgusted or disappointed in her teaching career.
As the three Slytherins ate breakfast, so did the Marauders plus one at the Gryffindor table. And while three of the boys and the girl sat clueless, Sirius was the sole spectator. He saw the looks in Hunter's, as well as Marlene McKinnon's and even Snape's eyes. He saw Lestrange's bust lip, black eye and other damage. He saw his own brother, Regulus look down disdainfully on Lestrange and sit away from him, closer to Hunter. He saw the way Hunter moved carefully, clearly suffering from at least 3 cracked ribs. He saw how obviously divided the Slytherins were, onto 2 separate sides.
Sirius knew what must have happened. But he wanted details, he needed them. After Draco's talk with Sirius before the fight, they now had a bond. Through their hatred of family, of the Slytherin way they were bullied into. Draco had won someone's trust, and likewise with Sirius. This is why Sirius was anticipating the Slytherin events with great importance.
Without speaking, even at the questioning glances he got from the others, Sirius stood up gracefully and began to walk. He sauntered as casually as he could; using every bit of swagger and attitude he had left , made his way to the Slytherin table with as much dignity as possible.
"How did it go?" Sirius asked in amazement, still taking in the clear line of separation at the usually apathetic and very blank Slytherin table. He directed his question to Draco himself as he stationed himself at their end of the table, but Sirius couldn't resist sending Snape a nasty look, even after all that Draco had said, about Snape being his right-hand, his 'main man' or something.
"Black," Snape sneered disdainfully, returning the look even as Draco scowled.
"Not now, Snape. What happened?" Sirius asked again with forced calmness, trying his best to ignore Snape and focus on the blonde boy and perhaps McKinnon.
"Like you said, not now. And not here. Later," Draco replied to Sirius coolly, sending him a look underneath his lashes. Sirius got the message, nodded and left while the rest of the Hall looked on as the great Gryffindor, Sirius walked away from the Slytherin table.
"Come on, we're going to Hogsmeade!" Lily told Hermione excitedly. She took Hermione's hand and dragged her down the stairs where they paused to sit on the couch for a second, while Lily explained.
"Great… did you need something specific?" Hermione asked, confused by Lily's overenthusiastic demeanor.
"Of course… the party!" Lily replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"What party?" Hermione asked, now really confused about all of this. Was this what the Marauders kind of slipped in, but never fully explained?
"That's what I'm here for; telling you all about it! This is going to be great," Lily practically giggled with excitement. She began to explain the ethics of this party. By the end, Hermione was thoroughly bewildered.
"So let me get this straight. Every year, on the 10th of December, a group of 7th years plan a party for 6th and 7th years of Hogwarts. This year it's the Marauders; music, food, drinking, dancing and everything. Dumbledore's completely fine with this?" Hermione was amazed. She hadn't heard anything about this in her time; of course 20 years had passed and certain traditions died out… but still.
"That's about right; it's a no-teacher night either. No supervision except for two or three adult, volunteers from Hogsmeade usually. Last years was… well, let's just say although I don't like giving them credit, the Marauders made it 10 times better just being there. This year is going to be fabulous,"
"So basically, it's just a bunch of uncontrollable teens in the Great Hall, supervised by a few poor adults?" Hermione asked archly.
"When you put it that way… no, there's usually no trouble. Dumbledore trusts us. And it's really casual too; you can think of it as whatever. An evening ball, a masquerade, a social gathering. But by the end of the night, your mind will be blown," Sirius put in, sticking his head through the door from behind Hermione and Lily.
"Very casual," added Remus emphatically, his head appearing above Sirius's before disappearing a second later.
"Hey, Mi, want to go with me?" James called out, pushing Sirius away from the gap.
"Sure, why not," Hermione glanced nervously at Lily before replying, her heart skipping a beat. She grinned at James who smiled back before also vanishing.
"I refuse to go in costume," Lily burst out suddenly. Hermione had just enough time to register the wicked grin on James's face before he too left.
"Now why would you say that?" Hermione asked as both girls began making their way to Hogsmeade. She looked at Lily quizzically and then turned around just to make sure Sirius or James wasn't behind them.
"Because it's the Marauders. Last year they wore costumes. This year, as hosts, it's going to be so much more," Lily explained shaking her head.
"Well, let's go out and get our perfect outfits… that are most definitely not costumes. And you can tell me all about everything on the way!" Hermione suggested cheerfully, quickening her pace. Lily grinned and also sped up, ready for some girly-bonding over shopping.
"You might want to sit down, it may take a while," Draco offered. Sirius and James both sat down dutifully. Unlike the two girls, these 3 boys weren't here for buying clothes and things for the party. No, this was Draco's time to tell them the story of what went on inside the Dark House. What Borealis new, what McGonagall found out. How things were settled. Every little bit.
"Remus and Pete had to go for some last minute preps, but we'll fill them in. We're all ears," James leaning forward in anticipation, resting his elbows on the table in The Three Broomsticks, their current location.
"Get ready for the dirty version, then…" Draco began. And then he talked. Talked himself out, explaining every single possible piece of Slytherin dynamics. All of the Them topics, the Procedural Admittance, the constant control and sworn secrecy and the cause. The loyalty to the house and the loyalty to Him; Voldemort. The recruiting Death Eaters. And what went down if someone refused.
End chapter 10
Dance, part 1, is already typed and will be posted soon. There will be 5 Dance parts, just so you know and they wont be starting with A…, like all the other chapters. The chapter title will simply be the name of the song.
No idea whether there are any spelling errors in the incantations for the fight. Let me know if you spot one. Credit for incantations & effects to spells goes to Ashen Haakon, who's story Spells & Creatures is where they came from.
As for readers... thanks to all who have reviewed. However a friend of a friend recently had a bit of a rant on the subject of reviewing. I know that over 20 people have me on their alerts, but most haven't ever reviewed. Could you please do so, even if it's to tell me simply that; you put me on your alerts. I think that if a story you read is worth keeping track of, it's also worth 2 seconds of your time to review.
I posted chapter 9 a while ago, but it was all screwed over, so I've replaced it and posted chapter 10 at once. No review replies becuase no reviews for chapter 9.
Avadne