CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Now you're standing there tounge tied
You'd better learn your lesson well
Hide what you have to hide
And tell what you have to tell
You'll see your problems multiplied
If you continually decide
To faithfully pursue the policy of truth
-D.M.-
When Neville entered the great hall for breakfast this morning, he nearly stumbled into everyone he met. A few moments ago, he had passed two whispering Slytherins, catching a few words about Draco coming back to the lessons. The official story was that Draco had been away in urgent family business the last three weeks and the Gryffindor house had been cheering wildly at the news. Well, not Neville of course and Hermione had been very quiet about it.
But she had told him about the wonderful setup she had made, convincing Snape into helping them, and even though the weeks had passed in misery without Draco, Neville could rest a lot easier knowing that Draco's mother watched over him day and night.
But the one thing keeping him sleepless was the memory of seeing Draco abused in such a way, that night when McGonagall had convinced Snape to let him in before Narcissa moved in temporarily.
His eyes filled with tears every time he recalled it, the guilt overpowering him. But the most forceful reaction was one quite new.
Revenge.
Lucius might have gotten away easily when trying to kill him, but he just couldn't escape the consequences of hurting somebody Neville held so dear. It was all too cruel, too unfair to accept in Neville's Gryffindor heart.
Neville took his seat with an unsettling gaze, casting looks over to the door not to miss Draco's entrance.
As Draco woke up this morning in Snape's bedroom, he jumped out of bed immediatly to check himself in the mirror. His limbs were still aching a little from the Basement Incident but he could walk around good enough and his main concern now was too make sure his stunning looks were intact. Anxiously, he scanned every inch of himself for newbegotten flaws, but Madame Pomfrey seemed to have done a very good job. Even the remaining bruises were so pale, they could easily melt in as shadows playing over his face.
With a sigh of relief, he started to put his clothes on, overjoyed to regain some former dignity again. But above all, this meant that he would be able to catch a glimpse of Neville. Only a glimpse, nothing else. And then...nothing else would happen. He couldn't risk one more earthquake like this one and if he just forgot all about him, then everything would work out just fine. He could concentrate on homework instead, right?
Snape and his mother had promised him that he could participate at the lessons today and it couldn't be more needed.
Excluding the boredom, he would need something else to put his mind on before the holidays came and he would need to return home where his father waited.
Even though his mother had guaranteed horrific penalties for Lucius if he tried anything, the mere presence of his father would be painful enough.
But Draco had been sure to let the layers of ice rebuild themselves inside him again. His misjudgements had nearly proven themselves fatal and it would not happen again.
Just as he put his hand on the doorknob to greet his mother good morning, he froze as he heard the outer door open and the familiar clattering of the cane against the floor. The blood turning cold in his veins, he leaned his ear to the door remaining perfectly still.
"What are you doing here?" he heard his mother ask, frostier than the queen of winter.
Next, just as he feared, he heard his father answer her as silky as his fury would allow.
"I'm your husband and Draco is my son too, in case you've forgotten."
"Oh. You could have fooled me."
Draco could only imagine the terrible vibes she sent out right now. He almost felt them through the door.
"Narcissa dear, you cannot solely decide how we solve family matters." Lucius said, his voice very poisonous.
"Of course you are free to exercise your own will, my dear husband. But the next time something even remotely alike to this happen, you are out of the house."
Draco almost dropped his jaw and he couldn't resist the urge to let an inch of the door open to catch the look on his father's face.
And he had his reward.
Lucius had gone white with rage, but his mother still sat by the table with an air of regal calm around her, not even looking up as she continued to sort out some of Snape's potions bottles.
"Oh, indeed." Lucius said, fighting to keep his voice restrained. "May I remind you that the Malfoy castle belongs to my family and not to yours? If it does not suit you..."
"...then it will fall with your family, since nobody is going to inherit it."
"Excuse me?"
Narcissa turned her cold eyes up to glare at Lucius.
"If I go, Draco goes with me. If you think I'd leave him alone with you, you must underestimate me indeed."
"DRACO IS MY SON AND HE'S GOING NOWHERE!" Lucius shouted all of a sudden, giving Draco a real start.
Narcissa remained rigid in her chair, looking very unimpressed.
"I think he would disagree with you very much at the moment." Narcissa drawled. "Unless you have a very impressive trick in your sleeve to make this up for him."
Lucius calmed down, his eyes narrowing as he studied his wife cleverly.
"Ah. So you are taking sides with his mad teenage revolt, are you? Have you given half a thought to the preservance of the bloodline, if you let him follow every whim, not to speak of the family's reputation that is, may I remind you, even your reputation?"
"I can handle my own reputation very well, thank you!" Narcissa snarled.
"So can I and I do." Lucius hissed. "If you insist on rewarding him every time he steps out of line, you are going to regret it very dearly as the rise against you next."
"Oh, please." Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Your dramatic flair does not become you all that well."
"Think about the cause, woman!" Every word had a heavy weight to them. "Do you expect the Dark lord to accept such behaviour from his chosen? You do remember who sent Draco the letter?"
"Neville Longbottom." His mother answered, as if she was about to lecture him. "Speaking of which, I heard he was treated for mortal wounds a few weeks ago. How very unwise of you."
"Why would I care about that?" Lucius snapped.
Narcissa gave him a cold smile.
"Imagine you had the nerve to execute such a blatant act."
"I didn't know you held the Longbottoms so high in regard. You heard the Dark lord's wish to have them extinct, did you not?"
Draco held his breath, not to make a sound.
"I couldn't care less about the Longbottoms." Narcissa said. "But if I were you, I wouldn't deprive Draco of his precious toys. You are much too alike when disappointed."
Draco bit his tounge in anger.
No! I'm definitely not like him, not at all, not at all...
Subconciously he started to make plans to drag Lucius down to the basement and cut his face to shreds as to separate the physical similarity between them forever.
"Such nonsense!" Lucius spat. "Will you stand by your words in front of the Dark lord, when he finds out that our son is fucking the enemy?"
"Language!" Narcissa hissed. "Draco is still very young and anything could change within weeks. He is dating Pansy any moment now."
A few seconds of silence passed between them.
"You know it to be a lie as well as I do." Lucius said finally.
"Does it matter? He is clever enough to learn from his mistakes."
"Let us hope so, because if he brings any Gryffindor into his private sphere again..."
"Look who's talking!" Narcissa's eyes flashed dangerously. "As I recall it, you couldn't take your eyes from that bitch for a Gryffindor, Lily, for years!"
Draco clasped his hand to his mouth not to gasp aloud.
Lucius fired back at once, flaming as if Narcissa had struck a match.
"How ignorant, forgetting to mention your childish, immature crush upon Snape of all people!"
Draco was biting his fingers now. Noway, not his teacher...
Narcissa sneered at her husband, putting her nose in the air.
"Such hard words for someone who impress you so much?" she asked, sounding deceptively innocent. "By the way, I was fifteen!"
"So is Draco." Lucius said, in a low, furious voice. "And fifteen means making mistakes!"
Suddenly the door opened again and Snape stepped in, hit by a deafening, quaking silence. He raised an eyebrow and looked from one to the other.
"Good morning, Lucius." He said, obviously choosing to ignore the dreadful mood in the room and the killing glare he recieved from Lucius. "I'm merely here to fetch the essays of the students, so you will not be disturbed..."
"Oh, I don't mind at all." Narcissa said, smiling at him in a way that made Draco's stomach turn almost inside out. He didn't want to see his own mother doing the sexy look and especially not to his teacher!
If Snape noticed it, he masked it completely and left the room as soon as his papers were found. But not before throwing a suspicious eye on his bottles before Narcissa.
As the door slammed shut, Draco could see his father's clutched fists trembling with anger.
"If you wish to move into the teacher's quarters here at Hogwart's instead, just tell me so that I can make arrangements..."
"You are acting like a child." Narcissa shot back, not letting the smile leave her lips completely, while lifting another bottle from the table.
Draco stood stunned with admiration that she dared to anger Lucius in such a way.
"Am I?" Lucius' voice was murderous silky again. "I can see where our son had his queer ideas from."
"Oh?"
"Be assured, I have taken precautions not to let things get out of hand. And from now on, Draco is straight, whether he wishes it or not."
Lucius turned to leave the room, but Narcissa rose and moved with catlike reflexes to block the door. She crossed her arms, not letting Lucius intimidating stare move her.
"What did you do?" she whispered, her voice demanding and a little threatening at the same time.
Draco swallowed. He did not wish to be reminded.
"The same as I will do to Snape if he even dares..."
"Oh I don't think so. You're scared to death of him. What did you do to my son?"
Draco's grip around the doorknob was absolutely cramped. He gripped it so tight his knuckles went white. Something lingered in the back of his mind that he couldn't quite reach. And he did not want to remember, not now, not now when he was to look at Neville soon.
Please, don't tell mom. You can't, because I know it's really, really bad and I intend to forget everything about it, I already have, don't tell her...
"I did nothing he did not thoroughly deserve. You should have heard the way he dared speaking to me!"
"I'll find out." She said coldly. "And then you better have a good motivation in your defence speech for every little bruise."
"I'm under no obligation to excuse my actions in front of you!" Lucius spat.
"I'm under no obligation to satisfy your needs in bed until you talk."
Draco grimaced. He wished he had never heard that.
"I'll find other means if you refuse, be sure about that." He stung back.
"Well, at least I know somebody alive to turn my affections to." Her voice was sharp as a knife as she glanced at Snape's potion bottles. Then she simply stepped aside, challenging Lucius' deadly gaze.
"Leave." She said, as he put his hand on the doorhandle.
"I intended to!" he snarled and stormed out, shutting the door with a bang that sent unpleasant shivers through Draco. As he loosened his hand around the doorknob, it was covered with coldsweat.
Ron was making an effort to reach the sausages at the table without touching Neville as Draco walked in and recieved the greetings from his fellow Slytherins. Neville noted with a sting in his chest that he took place next to Pansy, who smiled happily towards him.
"Nevvy, can you fetch me the...Christ!"
It was Harry who asked and Neville had turned a murderous stare at him, still with his mind on Pansy.
Ignoring Harry, Neville slowly turned his head to the Slytherin table again, just in time to see Draco whisper something into her ear, making her laugh.
And Draco looked at her in that...that affectionate, seductive way as he always did to Neville, claiming her with his gaze and she blushed!
The lump in his throat made him want to throw all the food up. Without knowing what he did, he rose from the table and rushed out, before anyone could ask questions.
He ran all the way to his room, the tears flowing in abundance as he threw himself at the bed and let loose the full force of the despair. He wanted to die! Lucius should have killed him to spare him the sight!
This was too much, what if Draco had been pretending with him all the time, only doing it for sport to degrade him? His head tried to tell him no, that Draco had actually saved his life and got a severe punishment because of his feelings for him. But what if he decided it wasn't worth it? What if Lucius had succeeded in scaring him?
Neville sobbed heartbrokenly into the pillow, deciding never to smile again in his whole life.
Minutes later, Harry stepped through the door, seating himself on the bed beside Neville.
"Go away!" Neville sobbed, drying the tears with his sleeves as fresh ones broke out.
Instead, Harry put his arms around Neville's shoulders and Neville threw his arms around him, almost crying his eyes out.
"How could he!? How could he!? Did you see what he did with Pansy?"
"Well." Harry said very carefully. "I think it looked like they talked just as usual."
"No, they didn't! If she touches him, I'll kill her!"
"I told you he wasn't good for you." Harry sighed. "You deserve a lot better than that wretch!"
"DON'T CALL HIM THAT!"
"Look, just try to get over him and find someone better..."
"I love him, Harry!"
Harry looked at Neville with concern and pity, seemingly beyond the point of anger about the subject.
"Well, I know how that is." he sighed. "Not with Malfoy, thank god!" he hurried to say. "Look, maybe you overreacted. I mean, if he's gay, why would he want to hang with her anyway?"
"He better not." Neville sniffed, digging his nails into his own palms.
But as the week moved on, things got steadily worse.
Pansy was always around Draco and sometimes they walked around hand in hand even without Crabbe and Goyle nearby.
Then the fatal day came, when the fifth years struggled through a potion's lesson under severe pressure. Snape had increased the discipline tremendously after the substitute teacher, as if punishing the class for their lucky break. But Neville, who was paired with Harry during the brewing, did worse than he had for a long time. He kept Pansy and Draco under constant watch, noting to his grief how they were working together, their hands touching a bit too long and their smiles too appreciating towards each other.
Then it happened.
Draco leant forward and kissed Pansy on the cheek.
Neville thought his heart would stop. He started to tremble and then he just whispered to Harry, his jealousy taking over his mind completely.
"Harry, kiss me."
Harry turned to look at him.
"What?"
Without waiting another second, Neville caught Harry's cheeks between his hands and locked his mouth over Harry's, forcing his tounge into the boy-who-lived while sweeping him up in a strong, passionate grip.
A crashing noise was heard and the next second, Draco had glass splinters in his hand from the test tube that had smashed between his fingers.
Surprised gasps and comments were heard across the classroom and not one of them had anything to do with Draco's accident.
Next, Cho rushed up to the kissing couple and hit Harry hard with the fist on his cheek, before running out of the classroom in tears.
Her action broke the kiss, sending Harry crashing into his bench.
"Ew, disgusting!" Pansy shouted and then Neville 'accidentily' tripped and spilled the contents of his cauldron over her.
Crabbe and Goyle flew up with angry shouts, throwing themselves over him as if Draco had trained them into doing so.
Pansy screamed as the hot liquid hit her and by then, Hermione, Justin and Jordan were on their feet to beat Crabbe and Goyle up.
But the one reacting strongest of them all was Snape.
"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" he bellowed, with such force that several students dropped their tubes and the most easily frightened ones cowered behind their benches.
He stormed to the center of the events, but instead of interrupting the fight first, he grabbed Harry furiously by the arm and pulled him along as he separated the participants in the brawl from each other by his mere gaze.
The classroom fell silent in a heartbeat, heavy fear hanging over the room as Snape looked more furious than they had ever seen him.
Draco still hadn't moved, remaining strangely frozen in his position as Snape ordered all the involved participants to his desk, including Pansy, who sobbed from her burns. Draco was left out of it and was sent off to madame Pomfrey with his cuts.
"Now, we need to straighten things out." Snape said, his voice threatening to give way to the anger. "This does not happen in my classroom and it will never, I repeat, never happen again!"
The assembly of students at his desk stood in frightened silence, not daring to meet his gaze or even breathe too loud.
Only Neville had his mind on something else as he glanced at the wounded Pansy with a strange satisfaction in his stomach.
"Jordan, Fichley and Hermione have detentions. Crabbe and Goyle can consider themselves warned."
Nobody dared to comment the injustice.
"Miss Parkinson may go to the medicine cabin and use the salve against burns."
Pansy walked off, throwing Neville a poisonous glare. Neville felt himself smirk for the first time in his life.
You, Longbottom, have a month's detention to serve and Potter..."
Snape almost flashed his teeth at Harry in rage.
"...You are staying here after class, so that I may have the pleasure to accompany you to Headmistress Umbridge."
Harry looked baffled.
"WHAT?"
"I'm warning you!" Snape said. "Return to your seats all of you and behave, unless you wish me to hang you up by your thumbs like Mr Filch."
Draco let madame Pomfrey tend to his hand in complete silence. He showed no emotion towards the pain whatsoever and he hardly heard Pomfrey's woes over his bad luck, being hurt when he had so recently healed and so on, and so on. As soon as she was finished wrapping his hand up in white bindings, he walked away with steady steps to linger behind a classroom door near the Gryffindor dormitories. The gruesome murder of Harry Potter had to wait only for a little while. There was somebody else who had to answer to his actions first.
Finally, Neville's class came walking past Draco's hiding place and as Neville dragged his feet after him as usual, unengaged in Ron's and Justin's heated discussion about Snape's deed, Draco grabbed him by the speed of lightning and pulled him into the room. He shut the door and locked it, not paying the slightest attention to the fact that the other Gryffindors probably were alarmed at the sound and would notice Neville's disappearance within moments.
Draco had cleverly covered Neville's mouth, not to have him howling with fear at the kidnapping. Neville looked unnerved enough after the incident with Lucius, but Draco found it very hard to show him sympathy about it right now.
"Look at me!" he snarled, pinning Neville to the wall so forcefully, he could have crushed the bones in Neville's arms if he had chosen to.
Neville regained his breath and stared back with equal deadliness.
"Don't you touch me EVER again!" he spat, trying to break lose from Draco's grip.
"You don't want to make me any angrier, believe me!" Draco hissed. "So when exactly did Harry replace me? Make sure not to leave any detail out!"
"Ow, let go, you disgusting, cheating wretch!"
"Watch your tounge! It's truly sliding in forbidden territories!"
"You have the NERVE to be angry! Do you think I'm blind, the way you show off with Pansy in front of everyone! You KISSED her!"
Tears started to well up in Neville's eyes. Draco looked beside himself with frustration.
"STOP THAT!" he roared. "Stop it before I..."
He glared at Neville, unable to finish his sentence.
Don't do this, everything was under such perfect control!
On the other side of the door, he heard knocking and somebody was pulling the handle to get in.
"You're mine." Draco whispered. "Harry has got to die for touching you like that."
"Pansy has to die!" Neville sobbed.
"Neville? Are you in there?"
"Yes! I'm fine!" Neville shouted. "Just leave me alone!" His voice sounded so hurt however, that he was not very likely fooling anybody.
"You need to talk?" It was Hermione's voice.
"NO! GO AWAY! WE'LL TALK LATER!"
Low murmuring was heard from the outside and finally footsteps fading away.
Draco jerked Neville's arm very harshly to pull him along as he scanned the classroom for other exits.
"You'll pay for this!" Draco said, his voice flaming with indignance.
Neville hit him several times with his free hand, but Draco just caught it and pushed him towards a door behind the blackboard, kicking it open as he forced Neville over the treshold. With an effort he managed to lock it behind them, throwing Neville on the floor as he slipped the key into his pocket.
"You piece of shit!" Neville gasped.
"You just hit me three times!" Draco growled. "And you had your tounge down Harry's throat, let's not forget about that!"
The small room they had entered seemed to be a large, old out-of-use-classroom, filled to the brim with old blackboards, maps and the sleepingbags they had used in their third year, when Potter's maniac godfather was loose on the school.
Draco flicked his wand and had the fireplace lit, spreading a comfortable glow in the blood-chilling, uncomfortable situation.
They were both silent for a moment, before Draco turned to Neville without any trace of warmth in his voice.
"Well, Neville. Let's find out about your affections, shall we?"
