A/N: Chapter Fourteen, here and ready to be read. Please R&R.

14

A Million Bloody Noses

Professor Snape walked briskly, and Draco nearly had to jog to keep up with him. "Is there something you wanted, Professor?"

"I expected much better of you," Snape said simply.

Draco was stumped. "I didn't do any magic, Professor."

Snape sighed. "I wasn't talking about that," he snapped.

"Huh?"

Snape opened the door to an empty classroom, and Draco stopped in front of it.

"Go in," Snape barked.

Draco reluctantly entered the room and stood. Snape closed the door quickly, and Draco looked around. The room was extremely dark, and Snape made no move to turn the lights on. Draco was beginning to get the feeling that he wasn't just Snape's favorite student. Maybe he was his fantasy.

Draco flinched as the professor put a hand on his shoulder, pushing him forward. His knees hit a chair, and his teacher let go of him. "Sit."

Draco sat obediently, feeling extremely uncomfortable, nervous, and mildly sick. He heard Snape walk back to the other side of the room. The lights came on, and Draco found himself sitting in a chair straight across from a man he knew didn't want to be there, a man he knew had important business to attend to elsewhere, a man who followed the Dark Lord as though he hadn't a choice, a man Draco knew as his father.

"F-Father," Draco stuttered.

"Draco," Lucius Malfoy hissed with narrowed eyes, "You know why I'm here."

Draco shook his head. "No, Father, I don't know."

"Boy, don't you lie to me!" Lucius growled.

"I'm not," Draco said, hoping his father wouldn't lash out at him in anger.

Lucius sighed. "I was hoping this would be easier than you are making it, Draco. I don't want to hurt you, but I will."

Draco looked back to where Snape had last been, but his professor had left.

"Look at me, boy!" Draco's attention flew back to his father. "You know that mudbloods are filthy things. You know that," Lucius began, and Draco knew instantly that his father was there because of Hermione. "Severus was kind enough to let me know what type of . . . beast you have been creating a relationship with. I want to know if he was lying."

Draco desperately wanted to say that Professor Snape was a dirty liar, but the cold, penetrating stare that his father gave him left no choice but to tell the truth. "He wasn't, Father."

Lucius seemed to control his temper for a second or two, but Draco soon felt the sting of a cruel hand across his face. There was a loud woosh, and Lucius was gone, leaving Draco with a bloody nose and an unsure conscience.

He stood up, using his robes to contain the blood. 'Everyone hates the idea of me being with the one person I'm crazy about. They're all wrong, and I'd take a million bloody noses for Hermione to feel the same.'

A/N:If you didn't forgive me in the last chapter,do you forgive me now? Please review.