Hanging By A Moment
By Duck Goddess
Disclaimer: don't own anything except plot and Leah Campbell.
Thanks for the reviews!
basketball15 – Yes, Leah was different from Things I'll Never Say. She was just acting as the best friend i.e. being a worrywart like me!
lucygirl07 – Hopefully I'll update frequently for this one.
BBR – Thanks! I found that this fic is really different from Things I'll Never Say. It's definitely not as long or fluffy.
NikkiEvans – Thanks! Yes, she is very different…she's kind of having a breakdown because she's worried.
eatingmania – Yeah, that wasn't a review, that was a message saying hi. Yes, I know you can see me, that's why I'm covering my eyes because I don't want to know what you wrote. DO NOT CALL ME LAUZIEPIE! You spelt it wrong, by the way. Yes, I know you're Tiff, you said that twice. There is nothing wrong with patting Asta's head and laughing like a maniac! It's NORMAL!
A/N: If some characters are OOC, feel free to let me know. I suck at portraying evil characters.
Chapter Two
"Parkinson," Lord Voldemort hissed, "What news do you have?"
Pansy walked forward confidently. She looked Voldemort straight in the eye, then Lucius Malfoy, his right-hand man and back at Voldemort.
"Draco has been meeting someone every night. I have seen him sneak out of the common room but I could not follow him since I do not have an Invisibility Cloak. I believe that this person he's been meeting is affecting his sense of morality. I think that he is in a relationship with a girl," Pansy said.
"Interesting," Voldemort said, smirking coldly.
"My son would only be with a pureblood. He despises mudbloods, my Lord," Lucius confirmed.
"How can you be sure? He hasn't come to this meeting. Draco must be punished," Voldemort said cruelly. Lucius twitched. He may have been a bit strict to his son but he was his son after all.
"I do not think punishing Draco is the best idea, my Lord. Just give him a little time. I have not been out of Azkaban for long so I cannot just go out in the open so easily. I will try to contact him later," Lucius said. Voldemort did not look very pleased.
"No. We need him now. Parkinson. Get an invisibility cloak. I don't care how. Follow Draco and see who he's seeing that is distracting him so much. Tell me as soon as you can. And Malfoy, I suggest you hold your tongue at the next meeting. I do not need your opinions. Your 'love' for your son is clouding your judgement. You will need to be punished. Crucio!"
Screams could be heard and Pansy carefully Disapparated away.
It was Monday already. Draco waited outside the Room of Requirement, impatiently checking his watch. He suddenly heard footsteps and looked up. Dumbledore was arriving and there was a figure behind him. It was too dark to see who it was, though.
"Professor," Draco nodded. The figure stepped out from behind Dumbledore. The figure had messy black hair, bright, green eyes and glasses. Draco instantly narrowed his own grey eyes.
"Potter," he snarled.
"Malfoy," Potter growled. Dumbledore smiled.
"As you can see, I would like the two of you to train together," Dumbledore said simply.
"Why? HE doesn't want to join the Order. He probably just wants to kill us all!" Potter blurted out, his eyes flashing.
"Excuse me?" Draco said angrily, "You're such a fu-"
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"That will be enough, Harry, Draco," he said, looking at them, "I do not like this kind of behavior. You both need to control your personal feelings for each other. We need to unite both the houses in order to fight this war. I think this is good training for that," Dumbledore said.
Draco and Harry looked at each other. How could they get along? They hated each others' guts. Draco hated Harry for being so heroic and good and Harry hated Draco because of his father and his childish taunting. The only things they had in common were inherited wealth, expertise in Defence Against the Dark Arts and their love for Ginny.
"Alright," Harry said quietly. Draco rolled his eyes. Typical Potter, he thought, Always the good one. Dumbledore looked expectantly at him.
"Urgh. Fine!" Draco said haughtily. Dumbledore looked pleased.
"Excellent! Now, your trainer will be someone you've met before," Dumbledore said vaguely. Draco and Harry subconsciously exchanged glances and glared at each other when they realised that.
"Professor McClaggan," Dumbledore said and a figure stepped out of the shadows. Draco and Harry immediately recognised him.
"Professor," Harry greeted politely. Draco merely nodded.
"Potter, Malfoy," McClaggan greeted harshly, "Dumbledore tells me you're ready. We'll see about that, eh?" (A/N: McClaggan was their DADA professor in their 6th year. Now, they have someone new. I can't be bothered to think of a name.)
Draco and Harry tried nodding and smiling (or in Draco's case, just nodding).
"Harry, Draco, I hope you work hard. Enjoy the room," Dumbledore said and walked off with a swish of his robe.
"Well. What are you waiting for? Get inside!" McClaggan barked. Draco and Harry walked inside obediently. Suddenly, a cold wave overcame Draco and he looked around. No one was there.
"Are you afraid, boy? Get inside!" McClaggan ordered. Draco strode in quickly.
The Room of Requirement looked the same as the room Harry used for the DA. Draco looked around. It looked very different from the room he and Ginny spent their quality time in. There weren't any sofas or candles - just cushions and books.
"Now, one very important factor in Defence is being able to block spells, curses, hexes and jinxes. You should know this by now, seeing as I taught you that personally," McClaggan said, peering at them sternly.
"Of course we know that! That's why we're training to join the Order! We're good, okay?" Draco said impatiently.
McClaggon looked at him. Harry stared at him, agape. Draco stared coldly back.
"You're too arrogant, boy. This war you're going to fight in – it's nothing like your typical Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. You need to shoot spells in a heartbeat and you need to be prepared to lose loved ones –"
Draco tuned out at this and let his imagination run. He could see Ginny's body, sprawled out on the ground with Voldemort cackling malevolently in the background. He could feel the sense of loss, like he was losing his soul. He was devastated. He was kneeling by her, holding her, sobbing for her. That's not going to happen! Draco thought quickly. That's not going to happen!
"That's not going to happen," Draco said confidently.
"What makes you think that?" McClaggon asked.
"Potter's going to kill him," Draco said, glancing sideways at Harry. Harry was gobsmacked. Did Draco believe that Harry could actually defeat Voldemort? He shook his head. This was definitely a strange day.
"You really think that, eh? Stupefy!" McClaggon suddenly cried. In a flash, Harry whipped out his wand and said, "Protego!" The Stunning Spell bounced off his shield and headed towards McClaggon. He quickly dodged two jets of blue light. Harry looked at Draco. He had done the same thing.
"Impressive," McClaggon said with a raised eyebrow, "Especially since you were distracted." Draco smirked while Harry grinned.
"Now, I want you two to duel. Focus on blocking," McClaggon ordered.
Draco and Harry stood facing each other, their wands raised. Although Draco would never admit it, he was kind of nervous.
"Stupefy!" Harry cried first. Draco dodged it.
"Expelliarmus!" he cried as Harry said, "Furnunculus!" Both spells rebounded and they both avoided it.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry shouted. Draco conjured a Shield Charm.
"Tarantellegra!" Harry cried again.
"Serpenortia!" Draco said calmly. A snake appeared, like in their 2nd year.
"STOP!" McClaggon shouted. The snake hissed.
"Evanesco," he muttered and the snake vanished. "That's enough for today," McClaggon continued, "You both have potential. Don't let that get to your head."
Harry immediately thought of his father and his overly large head.
"Go back to your dormitories," McClaggan said and Draco and Harry left.
"Nice spells, Potter," Draco said. That was his way of complimenting him.
"You too, Malfoy." They looked at each other. They were so different – yet they were getting along? Draco shook his head. He HATED Harry!
As if reading his mind, Harry said, "You know, I'm not that bad, Malfoy."
"Sure. And a monster called Aseeta ate the world and drank the Milky Way," Draco said sarcastically. (A/N: That's for you, Asta! LOL)
"Dumbledore's right. We DO need to unite the houses. It's the only way Hogwarts can stand against Voldemort," Harry said, ignoring Draco's previous remark.
"Whatever, Potter. See you on Wednesday," Draco said coolly and pretended to go down to the dungeons. On the way there, he quickly turned back and journeyed towards the Room of Requirement.
Draco felt someone waiting outside, even though he couldn't see her. He heard a swish of a cloak and reached out. Draco pulled the cloak off. He tried smiling but he couldn't. He saw the familiar reddish-auburn hair and the wide, brown eyes.
Now, all he could see was her dead body, lying on the ground. Her eyes were wide open but they were blank. The rest of the Weasleys, Potter, Granger, Campbell and Creevey were all weeping beside her.
"Draco!" Ginny's sharp voice brought him back to reality.
"Ginny," he said quietly. He couldn't speak to her. Not after what he saw. What could he do if Voldemort murdered her? Draco knew that Voldemort had possessed her before, in his second year. What if he still remembered her? What if Ginny was still a potential target? Her family was in the Order and she was friends with the Boy-Who-Lived.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked kindly.
"Nothing!" he said.
"Tell me!" she prompted him.
"NO!" Draco shouted but quickly lowered his voice, "It's nothing."
"Draco, one thing you're not very good at is denying things. Now, tell me what's wrong and I'll act like a good person and pretend to listen," Ginny said.
Normally, Draco would have laughed at this but he was too grief-stricken to laugh. Now, he could actually see Voldemort torturing her, her screams echoing in the darkness.
"No. No, I can't. Just leave me alone," Draco said, a little too harshly. Ginny's fire immediately started.
"Look, I told you that when you started training, I would spend more time with you and you were very happy about that. So forgive me for being nosey and inquisitive. I was just trying to be a good girlfriend!" Ginny said furiously.
"Well, you aren't being a very good girlfriend right now!" Draco said, his face contorted with anger.
Ginny clenched her fists. She was trying her hardest to keep her temper in check and NOT beat the crap out of him. She wasn't succeeding though. Ginny stepped forward and kicked him in the nuts – hard. So hard that maybe he won't be able to have children in the near future.
"AARRGGHH!" Draco cried in pain, keeling over.
"That's for calling me a bad girlfriend! You know, I've been trying to help you out in the war and all that crap and this is how you treat me! I'm trying to connect with you but you're just neglecting me! I'm naturally inquisitive! So sue me if I hex you right now!" Hot tears of fury were now welling up in Ginny's eyes.
"Fine, hex me! See if I care!" Draco said haughtily, even though his nuts were hurting like HELL. There was no way she could hex him – he was too loveable. Ginny took her wand out. Uh oh, Draco thought. She could feel the Bat Bogey Hex incantation on her tongue but for some reason, they couldn't roll out. Ginny couldn't hex Draco. Not now – not like this. She already hurt him. She put her wand back in her pocket and bowed her head.
Draco was relieved. Thank Merlin she didn't hex me! I still remember the damn bogeys flying around. I think getting kicked in the reproductive organ is enough. shudders
"Why can't you trust me?" Ginny asked sadly (A/N: big difference from the pissed, kick-ass Ginny before. A bit OOC?).
"You're a Weasley and a Gryffindor. How can I trust you?" Draco asked without thinking.
Ginny stared at him. How could he say a thing like that? Now, the tears were already trailing down her cheeks.
"You're a Malfoy and a Slytherin. How could I fall for you?" Ginny shouted heatedly and stalked off.
You fucking prat! Draco scolded himself. How could you say that? Malfoys and Weasleys hate each other! You stupid, idiotic, evil, piece of crap! Now, Draco obviously regretted all the things he said to Ginny – all the misery that he had caused.
He could still see her angry, tear-stained face. What if that was the last thing he would ever say to her? What if Voldemort came to Hogwarts and kidnapped her? Draco would never forgive himself.
A/N: Ooh! Angst! Hope you like this chapter! You'll see more of Leah and Colin next chapter (I think). You'll definitely see Leah, though. You'll see Ron soon but I'm not sure about Hermione. She'll appear sometime, just not sure when. Review please!
Originally written: June 2005