Oblivio Nex

Chapter 13

Draco woke with a frown; he was cold and stiff and as his eyes opened, his heart sunk when he remembered why it was he felt so awful.

It seemed that after yesterday afternoon's little breakdown he had fallen asleep in the bathroom. Too tired and too anxious to deal with Harry, he'd collapsed on the stone floor and had fallen asleep in his dressing gown despite the early hour.

Awake now, Draco went to the door slowly, knowing he was going to have to come out sooner or later. His hand clenched the handle tightly as he gathered his strength to pull the door open, yet when he did it was only to stop and look down in astonishment. There, on the floor outside the bathroom, one Harry Potter was sprawled out, snoring softly.

Draco smiled gently and he knelt down and looked at the boy's face, one that he'd studied for years, one that was as familiar as his own and yet as different as could be possible, from Harry's dark messy locks to his sun kissed skin that contrasted so vividly against Draco's own platinum hair and fair complexion.

Draco reached out a hand to gently caress his love's face but stopped, his arm dropping to his side and his heart twisting when he realised he couldn't do that anymore. He was no longer the naive little blonde that this Harry had fallen in love with, and despite his many pretences and masks Draco didn't believe that he could carry on the charade of being that memory free youth who'd loved Harry so innocently – their relationship had meant something and, for however short a time, Draco had felt the most he'd ever felt and he refused to mock that relationship now with his bitter love.

There then came a scraping noise from the window that pulled Draco out of his maudlin thoughts, and he got up warily as he made his way over to the sound. When he pulled the curtains open to the dark night sky the Slytherin scowled as he recognised Blaise's vicious barn owl. After opening the window he cautiously stepped back and watched the owl land on his bed, where the nasty little thing then proceeded to attack his pillows, making loud and vicious ripping noises.

Honestly, it was no wonder he'd been nervous around Harry's owl – this owl had taken a horrible dislike to him from the start and, as it was already damaged in the brain from Zabini's constant mistreatment, the thing could certainly be… difficult at times.

Draco looked cautiously at Harry as the bird suddenly let out a blood-curdling screech before attacking his pillows with a renewed vigour, but Harry must have been very tired, as the boy didn't even stir.

Draco then quickly stunned the owl before it woke Harry – it wouldn't do to have the dark-haired boy waking up to watch Draco open his death order.

The note was a short one, simply saying: The usual place - now.

Draco knew what the meeting was about and he stared at the crinkled parchment, wondering if he could actually go through with this plan. Yet he had to, Draco reminded himself, shaking his head; he had no choice.

Draco quietly exited his and Harry's room, taking the Invisibility Cloak with him. He swung the cloak over himself as he walked through the Hospital Wing, just managing to avoid being seen by a distracted looking Pomfrey.

As he snuck out of the doors quietly Draco glimpsed an old clock that stood against the wall in the Hospital Wing and he noted that it was just after midnight, for which Draco was grateful as he didn't like the idea of having to dodge the whole of Hogwarts whilst hidden in Harry's Cloak.

The Slytherin crept down the corridors swiftly, the only things slowing his sure-footed steps were the small bruises that ached and throbbed every time his muscles moved. He encountered no one, not Filch or even any of the Ghosts. However, this did not reassure the boy that his actions went unnoticed; in fact it only made him warier, as surely he should have seen someone? Hogwarts was a place filled with activity whether day or night and this strange silence that seemed to cover the castle made Draco uneasy.

Draco shook off the paranoid feeling, scolding himself for being so twitchy, and as he approached the classroom that the Slytherins occasionally used for meetings and which the note no doubt referred to, he quickly took off the Cloak and set it down just outside the door in the shadows where it wouldn't be noticed. Setting a slightly irritated, sneering expression on his face, Draco flung the classroom door open and smirked when he saw the figure of Blaise Zabini jump.

The other boy, always one for drama, had dressed all in black and even had his hood up. The dark material covering his face made him look more like a psychotic beggar than the dashing villain Zabini was no doubt hoping to portray. Draco inwardly rolled his eyes at the boy's depressing lack of originality.

"Zabini," Draco nodded to the boy as he walked up to where he stood.

The other Slytherin gave a nod back and Draco saw the excited gleam in his dark eyes, which shone from beneath his hood; it was all too similar to the excitement Blaise had shown on the day he had caught Draco and Harry in the corridor, where the boy had then shown his enthused potential for the Dark.

"Malfoy," Zabini smirked back.

Draco itched to do something about that smirk; no doubt the other Slytherin believed he had something on Draco to address a Malfoy in such a disrespectful manner. His heart sped up a little as he wondered if the boy knew about his relationship with Harry but then calmed almost instantly as he realised that his father, despite the madness that had overtaken him at the moment, would not allow the Malfoy name to become so sullied with such a scandal. Therefore the reason of Zabini's disrespect was probably due to Draco's 'failure' concerning his task.

"Just get on with it, Zabini, and stop grinning at me like some kind of crazed Huffelpuff," Draco snapped at the boy.

Zabini's smirk, if anything, grew.

"But Malfoy, I'd like us both to stand here a moment - you to wallow in your failure, and I to glory in my role as your saviour, your aid in this terrible mess that you've created." Zabini laughed cruelly. "I was, however, upset to learn that you failed in the last task you set yourself. Things would have been so much neater if you'd done it right. The Dark Lord's not happy with you, Draco… it seems that these days you can't even drink a potion correctly."

The only sign of how these words took effect on the blonde was the slight movement of his fingers as they twitched to grab his wand, yet his face remained impassive and if any emotion was shown it was boredom.

"Finished, Zabini?" Draco didn't wait for the boy to reply, quickly continuing, "Good. Now why don't you be a good messenger boy and tell me what the Dark Lord and my father would like me to do."

Zabini scowled at that and Draco inwardly laughed. The boy was so infatuated with himself and the power he craved that he'd been affected by that casual comment. He was pathetic. It was true that Slytherins were ambitious: they all wanted something and fiercely at that; this was their weakness. And it was also true that the majority of Slytherins did lust for power, like Blaise believing it the ultimate ambition, the ultimate control. Yet most could hide their goals with a subtle tact that Zabini seemed not to have mastered. That was one skill Draco was glad to have learned, as he had a different ambition, and one that would have surprised his peers, who categorised him as a power-hungry Malfoy.

"The Dark Lord knows now about Potter's state," Zabini started sulkily, interrupting Draco's musings. "He's commanded that you continue with your father's plan. He has, however, added to the details. The task will not be without difficulty, due to the suspicion that will fall on you after Potter dies, mostly because of your well-known support of the Dark, but also because of your infamous rivalry. Therefore, when you're given the antidote to Oblivio Nex by Professor Snape, you are to add this to Potter's potion." Blaise gave Draco a pouch of something that felt like powder, causing Draco to look at the other boy with a small frown.

"What is it?"

Zabini shrugged, "Something that reacts with whatever's in the potion Potter needs to recall his memories. It will be what finally kills the git."

Draco went over the plan in his mind, searching for possible weaknesses and then frowned when he realised something. "If I put this in the potion, Professor Snape will be suspected for Potter's death."

"Exactly," Zabini grinned.

Draco's frown deepened.

"Does the Dark Lord want one of his spies caug-"

"It seems you've been out of the loop for a while, Malfoy," Blaise sneered gleefully. "It's been found that Snape thinks it's okay to play both sides, and the Dark Lord isn't very happy about this. However, our Lord's plan takes care of him, as Snape shall be caught as a traitor once Potter is found dead from his potion. He will be publicly punished by the side he's really working for, after they find certain incriminating items in the Professor's chambers, that is. Dumbledore won't be able to protect his little spy then, and the Ministry will practically be baying for Snape's blood. After all, the blame's got to go somewhere. Brilliant isn't it?"

"Brilliant," Draco muttered, inwardly cursing Voldemort for his cunning. Now, not only would Professor Snape suffer (which he no doubt would have done in any case if Voldemort had dealt with the matter personally) he would suffer with the Wizarding world believing that he worked for the Dark. Brilliant indeed, as the one thing Snape had was his dignity and he would lose that after being named murderer of The Boy Who Lived. It was a much crueler punishment than simple physical torment and death.

Draco had always admired Snape, despite the fact that he knew the older wizard was a Death Eater, and when he'd discovered, just then, that the man was secretly working for the Light his heart had leapt to think that he wasn't the only Slytherin who craved more than Dark power. It made a lot of sense actually, especially considering how Snape had kept badgering Draco to talk to him after walking in on Draco in the empty Slytherin common room muttering to himself about Voldemort and how he wished that the evil bastard would just Avada Kedavra himself – it had been a very hard day… the day he had received his order to kill Harry in fact.

Yet Draco's hope that his Head of House could help him was short lived as he realised that now that Snape had been discovered as a spy, Draco had no excuse to get near him. Draco could not, now, ask for aid from the Light side, couldn't have that long overdue conversation that Snape had seemed so set on, any more than he could announce to his father that he was in love with Potter, and tell the wizard where to stick his Malfoy duty. If he did approach Snape now, it would only look suspicious and place them both in greater danger.

"Isn't it?" Zabini's words pulled Draco out of his thoughts. "The plan not only gets rid of Potter and any chance of that ridiculous prophecy being fulfilled, but it gets rid of a spy, too," he added, admiringly.

Draco sneered internally. Ah yes, the prophecy. It was no wonder Voldemort was getting desperate enough to ask his 'minions' to kill his greatest enemy; with Harry safely dispatched by someone else, Voldemort could carry out his plans with no danger of any significant interference, as considering the prophesy it seemed that Harry Potter would be the only one with any real chance of stopping the Dark Lord's plans.

"If you're impressed with that, Zabini, make sure you don't wet yourself with excitement if you ever attend an actual meeting," Draco drawled, enjoying the flash of fury that appeared in the boy's eyes. "Well, this little get-together has been fun but if you don't mind I'll be going. Wouldn't want to keep Potter from his imminent death, now would we?"

Draco turned to go, but jerked to a halt as Zabini pulled him back. Zabini's face filled with angry resentment, and he leaned close to Draco, who merely looked at the other boy with a mildly irritated expression.

"Just make sure not to fail this time, Malfoy," Blaise snarled as he pushed Draco away from him and stormed out of the room.

"Oh, I'll make sure," Draco muttered darkly to the empty room.

-

Neither boy noticed the glowing pair of feline eyes that had watched the scene with interest, nor had they noticed the little paws that now moved quickly on the cold stone floor, rushing as fast as they could down the corridors to the office hidden behind a gargoyle, where the cat then determinedly stared at the stone creature until it jumped aside with unease at the animal's stern glare.

The cat's fur rose as its sharp mind went over what it had just overheard. It seemed that the boy had finally made his move.

-

To be continued…