Chapter Six – Release

Darren woke up on Sunday feeling better than he had for a long time. He had taken a bat last night before going to sleep, but he had not washed the spot where Cho had kissed him. He thought about her all morning, not hearing one thing that Blaise said or asked him at breakfast. Darren did not really care what Blaise was talking about because he was watching Cho walk into the Great Hall for her morning meal. She caught his eye and smiled warmly at him. He could not help it; his face broke out in a huge smile as well.

"Must have gone well then, huh Darren? Blaise asked him.

"What?"

"Hello, earth to Darren! The date? It must have gone well?"

"The date? Oh, yeah, it went fine, yeah, fine Blaise."

Blaise just smiled and rolled his eyes. "So, are you going to see her again any time soon?"

"Yes, if you must know."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

Blaise looked like he was going to smack him. "When is the date, idiot?"

"Oh, sorry. Saturday at two o'clock." Darren had awoken that morning to find a school owl with a letter from Cho that had asked him to meet her at that time.

"Cool. What are you going to do though? There is no Hogsmeade visit."

"I don't know. I just know we meet at the stairs in the Entrance Hall at one. After that, who knows?"

"Well, maybe she wants to sneak off into the Forbidden Forest?" Blaise teased.
Darren cut him a scathing look. "I doubt that Blaise."

"Oh well, you can always hope, can't you?" he replied.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Darren spent the day doing homework, with Snape's essay on the healing properties of the bezoar taking most of his time. He also got distracted by commotion in the common room as well. Three second years had tried to set off a couple of Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, and managed to set a rug on fire. Snape had stormed in and punished then all with detention for a week, and berated Darren because he was the oldest student in the common room, and why didn't he stop them. Darren just grabbed his books and homework and left with Snape still shouting at him. The library was quiet, at least when he arrived there to finish his assignments, but the tables were mostly full. Hermione was sitting at one of the tables, as usual, and said hello to him when he sat down next to her. It was either sit with her, or with a large group of second and first years that had mostly filled up the rest of the tables.

"Hi Darren," she said, cheerily.

"Hello Hermione. How are you?"

"Fine. Just working on S.P.E.W. What are you doing?"

'Oh no. S.P.E.W. I hope she doesn't try to pull me into that too,' he thought. S.P.E.W. had become quite the joke around school the last two years, and Darren had no desire to join. None at all.

"Snape's essay he gave me on bezoars," he replied, keeping his thoughts to himself. "Then, I have to finish that essay for McGonagall on Human Transfiguration. I don't really get the part about transforming back to your real form. How can you use your wand when you are, say, a fish or something?"

"Well Darren, if it was that easy, we would not need a teacher to show us how, would we?" she told him. "Besides, the wand folds into the body and it is therefore in your hand, whatever that becomes, at all times."

"Oh, okay." He felt very stupid at the moment, having been told by Hermione something he should have known already.

"Well, it is not that easy Darren; in fact it took me two times before I could transform Ron into a dog."

'Two times!' Darren thought. 'I doubt I could do it in ten times.'

"Wow Hermione, that is pretty good."

They sat in silence after that for a while, both working on their respective projects. Darren was having a hard time explaining the physical composition of the bezoar, and sighed heavily at his predicament.

"What's the matter Darren?" Hermione asked.

"The bezoar. I don't get how it can be one of two things."

"Such as?"

"Well, according to the books, it is a mass of dried hair that is in the stomach of a goat, or a mass of something else, such as pieces of fruit, right?"

"Right," she said.

"So, how is it dry, if there is stomach acid in there, and how can it be hair? Why would a goat eat hair?"

"Well Darren it is really a piece of material that the goat has eaten and can't digest. It sits in the stomach and does not get through the digestive system. Usually it is made of hair, and gets in there when the goat licks itself. Most animals do that, and bezoars form in them as well, but it is the goat that has bezoars with magical properties. Also, it mostly occurs in cud chewing animals"

"Ahh, okay, thanks, that helps a lot."

"No problem Darren."

Darren went back to his work, finally understanding what Snape had been talking about for six years now. He had not given any other student this assignment, but had given it to Darren because he knew that Darren had always had trouble with this particular area of Potions class. He finally finished it, and thanked Hermione for her help. As he got up to leave, she stopped him.

"Darren, can I talk to you for a minute?"

He was not sure what she could want, but he told her "Yeah, I guess so." Hermione had helped him, and it would be rude to not let her.

"I want to talk to you about Cho."

He sat back, his ears pulling back as well. "What about her?" he said coldly.

"Now Darren, I'm not trying to pry, honestly, but Cho has had a rough time the last two years, and I hope you realize that when you are with her."

"I know that Hermione, so what is your point?"

"My point is she is probably looking for a little more than most people are willing to give, and she could be hurt badly, and she is really a nice person, and she doesn't deserve that."

Darren could not believe that Hermione had the gall to talk to him about this. There had never been more than two words said between them in the past, and now she was, in his opinion, nosing into his personal life.

"Hermione, I assure you I have no intention of hurting her, or allowing anyone else to hurt her for that matter. See you later." His response was a bit testy, and he turned to leave as she tried to apologize to him. He did not care what she had to say about it, she had no right to do that at all. What did she know about his feeling for Cho, or his intentions? 'Nosy little'â€but his subconscious interrupted him. 'She is being honest, so don't get mad at her for that. She just doesn't want to see Cho get hurt, again,' was all he kept hearing in his head. 'If you hurt Cho, you will hate yourself Darren,' was the last thing he told himself before he got back to the common room where Draco was holding court in front of the fire again, so Darren just went back to his dormitory to get away from him.

The next few days went slowly, probably because Darren had wanted to get through the week to get to Saturday. He had turned his essay on the bezoar, and gotten an O, and when Snape had seen him and Hermione smile at each other, he had to know that she had helped him. Darren had wondered if Snape was angrier at the fact that he did well on the essay, or the fact that Hermione had probably helped him. Snape hated the Gryffindors, but helping students outside class was something he could not do anything about. He had left class that day before Snape could stop him, and went straight to Divination so that he could not catch him either. Belomancy was as boring as anything else in Professor Trelawney's class had ever been, and just as boring in Darren's opinion. They had gone outside with bows and arrows and Professor Trelawney had interpreted the flight of each student's arrow. Apparently, he and Blaise were to drown in the lake and be saved by the giant squid. Darren could not help but think how they could drown yet still be saved. His thoughts were interrupted by the bell and then Charms, and then dinner. That night he had been subjected to Draco's usual harangues, but one thing in particular caught his attention.

Draco had been talking to Crabbe and Goyle, as usual, and they were, as usual, enraptured by his words.

"I would be looking at the Daily Prophet tomorrow if I were you, boys. There will be some big news about my mother in it then. She is going to make big news, believe me," he had said.

Darren wondered what the news could be. Perhaps Malfoy's mother had been found to be a Hag instead of a witch?

"You'll all see it tomorrow. It will probably make the front page of the Prophet, like my family usually does."

Darren just grabbed his pillow and blanket and headed to the common room for another night on the couch. He had been there about thirty minutes when Blaise flopped down on the couch opposite him.

"Couldn't take anymore either, huh?" Darren asked.

"No, he is still going on about it, whatever it is."

"Well, we will see tomorrow at breakfast I guess," Darren said.

They talked most of the night before finally drifting off to sleep. Darren woke up first in the morning and shook Blaise awake. They had to rush again, as they had left their alarm clocks in the dormitory and had overslept by twenty minutes. At breakfast, Darren and Blaise looked around for a copy of the Daily Prophet, but it had not been delivered yet. As the two of them sat eating porridge and bacon, a group of owls swooped through the windows and started delivering the days mail. A large eagle owl dropped what could only be the paper next to Draco and flew off again. Darren watched Draco out of the side of his eyes and waited for him to announce whatever it said. After a few minutes Draco started to pass the paper to his friends, looking very smug as he did.

"Well, that should make old Fudge get it in gear then," he said.

Darren could not help but wonder what Draco was talking about when a third year to his right handed Blaise his copy of the Prophet. Blaise scanned it quickly and said, "You aren't going to believe this Darren." He then handed it across the table so Darren could read it as well. Under the large headline, which had under it a large picture of a very snooty Narcissa Malfoy shaking hands with Cornelius Fudge, he read something he knew he was going to hear about forever.

Malfoy family makes generous donation to St. Mungo's

Yesterday, Narcissa Malfoy made an extremely generous donation to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. The Malfoy family donated the sum of five thousand Galleons to the hospital. In an intervi3ew with the prophet, she had the following to say.

"I feel it is an important thing to give to the magical community so that those less fortunate can seek the medical care they need. Once the donation is complete, there will be new wing for treatment of those that have been put under the Imperius Curse. This will be on the fourth floor where witches and wizards that have suffered spell damage are treated. I also hope that my husband will be allowed to seek treatment there as well. He has been wrongfully convicted of acts he did not commit willingly, and he should be allowed to be treated by the best Healers available."

Lucius Malfoy could not be reached for comment, as he is currently confined to Azkaban Prison awaiting trial for his part in the break in at the Ministry of magic last June. As most readers will remember, that is when You-Know-Who attempted to gain access to the Department of Secrets and was stopped by Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and several other witches and wizards. Among them were Alastor" Mad Eye" Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, the werewolf Remus J. Lupin, who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, and the wanted criminal Sirius Black. Black was killed in the attack that was led by Lucius Malfoy.

When asked for comment on the donation, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge had the following to say. "I feel this type of donation only goes to show what a wonderful and generous family the Malfoys are. Lucius and his lovely wife have always been generous donors to wonderful cause, and this should only show that Lucius Malfoy is most likely innocent of any charges that have been brought against him by the Wizengamot."

When asked to clarify his comment, Minister Fudge said that he would have more to say on Friday about the status of Lucius Malfoy and the group of other Death Eaters that have been in Azkaban ever since being arrested by Aurors in June at the Ministry of Magic. He had the following to say about that topic. "I will be giving an interview to the Daily Prophet on Friday afternoon, and then I will announce the decision I have made regarding the people that have been imprisoned in Azkaban. That is all I have to say now, thank you."

The Daily Prophet is eagerly awaiting his announcement and will be reporting it in the Saturday edition.

"What do you think that all means Darren?" Blaise asked.

Darren was re-reading the article and wanted to finish it before answering. "I think Lucius Malfoy just bought his way out of Azkaban Prison. That is what I think Blaise."

"Great. That's just great. Like Malfoy doesn't brag enough as it is."

"Uh huh," was all Darren could say in response. But his thoughts were racing. 'This is going to affect me in more ways than it will most people,' he thought to himself.

After talking about Malfoy's father's release for a few more minutes, they headed off to Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Darren had to attempt to produce a Patronus, but he could not get the end of his wand to even flicker a little bit. "You must use a more powerful happy memory Darren. The ones you have been using are obviously not strong enough to produce the desired effects." He had tried again and again, but he was still unable to produce a Patronus, unlike two of the other students. At least Malfoy and his cronies had failed as well. That thought made Darren feel better as he headed to Herbology. Herbology was still boring to him. How many times could they try to repot Devil's Snare anyway? Care of magical Creatures was next, and Darren was eager to get another chance to approach Brogan. He got the chance when Professor Grubbly-Plank had asked for volunteers. He approached carefully, with a large piece of meat in his hand. Professor Grubbly-Plank was watching the class to make sure no one caused any trouble this time. As he neared the pen, Brogan was watching him intently, with his head cocked to the side. Darren did not take his eyes off the animal's and he had reached the pen when Brogan came close to him. He bent his head to sniff the meat Darren was offering, but one eye was still on Darren. Brogan took the offered meat and swallowed it in one great gulp. He then nuzzled Darren's shoulder, and let him stroke his great head. Brogan started to purr like a lion, and that was very strange to hear, as his head was that of an eagle. Darren stayed by the pen for several minutes and then the bell rang. The rest of the class started to leave, but Darren felt someone come up to his side. He looked to his left and saw Harry there.

"He really is amazing, isn't he?" Harry said.

"Yeah, he is," was all that could think to say.

"I wonder how he would fare against a big snake?" Harry asked.

Darren had an idea what Harry was getting at, and said, "I would expect he would do pretty well with a snake Harry. See you later then."

"Right, see you Darren," Harry replied, and he turned to go back to the castle. He met Ron and Hermione a few paces from the pen, as they had been unwilling to approach Brogan. Neither had been able to approach him' in fact only Harry and Darren had been able to so far. Darren turned to meet Blaise, but he had already headed back, and he just walked alone back to the castle, alone with his thoughts for once.

After Arithmancy, where they had determined how the number 1.68 was used to tell most everything about a person's past and future, Darren had headed to the common room again. Darren did not put much stock in Arithmancy or Divination, and he often wondered why he took them both, but he had been very good at math in Muggle schools, so he had taken Arithmancy as an elective in third year.

The rest of the week had dragged on. Draco had become even more unbearable, if that was possible. He was telling everyone how his father would be released soon, as he was innocent to start with.

"I knew father was innocent, and I think this gift to St. Mungo's will show to everyone else just what type of man my father really is," Draco said one evening, for what had to be the thirtieth time. It made Darren's stomach turn at the thought of Lucius Malfoy turned loose on the world. Draco was bad enough, wasn't he?

Classes dragged the rest of the week, making Darren check his watch constantly to see how much time was left in each subject. Snape seemed even nastier, or at least it seemed that way, since the news that the Malfoys had made the donation to St. Mungo's. That seemed odd to Darren, as Snape always was on Draco's side, no matter what problem he caused. In the last Potions class of the week, Snape had gotten so angry at Neville for melting another cauldron that it looked like he was about to strike him then and there. The bell had rung in time to save poor Neville, but not before Snape had completely embarrassed him once more in front of the other students. At last the final bell rang in the final class of the week, and Darren was free for the weekend at last.

At dinner that night, he made eye contact with Cho, who just smiled at him. Her smile was infectious, and he felt himself blush and smile as well. She just looked away again, but he could see her glance at him every few minutes during dinner. After eating, he and Blaise had returned to the common room and found it pleasantly deserted for once. They were able to get the best couches in front of the fire and spent the night talking about nothing in particular. Students had filed in and out of the common room, but Darren was very happy to not see Malfoy that night. 'Maybe he's been expelled,' Darren hoped. Eventually Blaise tired and went off to bed, leaving Darren to his thoughts of Cho and the date they had tomorrow.

Saturday morning finally came. He had been waiting for the day, but his thoughts were on the Daily Prophet and what it might contain in today's edition. He had reason to be interested, but did not tell anyone else, not even Blaise. He hurried to get dressed as he had overslept again, as he usually did on Saturdays. As he ran to the Great Hall for what remained of breakfast he ran into Harry, Ron and Hermione in the entrance hall. They were looking at the Daily Prophet which had been delivered already.

"I can't believe it," he heard Ron say.

"There is no way Fudge will survive this," Hermione said. She had seen Darren and the three of them started to act as if they were not discussing anything of importance at all. Hermione had stuffed the paper in her bag and told Darren hello.

"Hi Hermione, what is in the paper today?" he said to her.

"Nothing much Darren, see you later," she said hurriedly.

The three of them hurried up the stairs and Darren could have sworn he saw a look of anger on Harry's face.

'Well, not like he hasn't got anything to worry about anyway, is it,' he thought to himself as he sat down to get the remnants of the day's morning meal. It was almost noon, and he found that he was grateful that the weekend meal times were not as strict as during the week. He sat alone after eating, wondering what he and Cho would do today. He had never had a date that was at school before. Every time he had been on a date during school, it had been in Hogsmeade. It was almost one o'clock when he headed back to the dormitory to brush his teeth and run a comb through his short hair.

When he returned to the entrance hall, Cho was already there, resplendent in a peach dress that made her look even more beautiful than he could imagine her being.

"Hello Darren," she said with a small smile on her face.

"Hi Cho, how are you?" he replied, feeling stupid to have asked such a dumb question.

She leaned to him and stood on her tiptoes, kissing him on the cheek. "I am fine, let's go."

"Okay, where?"

"To the lake. Let's take a long walk."

"Fine, let's go then."

They left the castle, heading across the grounds to the lake edge. It was a cool day and Darren saw Cho shiver a little from the breeze. He took off his jacket, giving it to her to keep her warm. He did not need it anyway. Just being with her was enough for him at the moment. He was significantly taller than she, and the jacket hung far below her hands, making her look a tad silly. Darren just smiled as she took his hand and let him lead her around the water's edge. Cho had a smile on her face also, but they did not speak as they walked. A slight breeze was blowing and the trees of the Forbidden Forest were swaying in the distance. As they walked the edge of the lake, they could see other students together, sharing the day with each other. Darren was more happy than he had been in quite a long time, even more so than when they had gone to Hogsmeade together last weekend. Truth be told, he enjoyed quiet times like this. He had always been a bit of a loner, not that he disliked other people, but he valued his time, whether it was with himself, or with someone special to him, like Cho.

They had almost reached the bank opposite the castle when Darren heard noises up ahead. It sounded like a scuffle, and he thought he recognized the voices coming from behind a copse of trees up ahead.

"Stay here Cho," he told her.

He let go of her hand, leaving her next to the bank. He walked briskly to the trees, his wand out, curious what was going on here. Then he saw something that made his blood boil. His rage grew as he saw Crabbe and Goyle holding Blaise and Draco hitting him in the face.

"Accuse my family of bribery will you!" Malfoy was yelling at Blaise. He smacked Blaise hard across the face, making Blaise recoil in pain. That was it, Darren had seen enough. He stepped from behind the trees and made for Draco. Crabbe and Goyle saw him coming, but he was too quick for them to warn Draco. Darren grabbed Draco by the collar and threw him into a tree, his head hitting the trunk full on. Draco fell like a ragdoll, and his two friends let go of Blaise and made to come after Darren. Darren rounded on them, his wand pointed at them with menace in his eyes. They stopped cold. Darren knew they were nothing more than bullies, he had seen it so many times it was not funny anymore. Five years of Draco and his bullying had come to the edge, and Daren was going to end it, now. His father had sent Darren to Muggle defense classes, and Darren knew how to handle himself. He was going to hurt Draco, he could feel it, and it felt good.

He stood over Draco, telling him to get up, to face him like a man. Draco just lay there, unable or unwilling to move due to his fear. Nobody had ever done this to him in all the time he had been in school, and now he was too scared to do anything. Darren reached down and yanked Draco to his feet and propping him against the tree.

The words his father had used to describe bullies came back to Darren now, making his eyes begin to water in cold fury at the site of a Malfoy attacking his friend.

"Darren, a bully is really just a coward that is too scared to do the right thing. If one tries to intimidate you, you must stand up for yourself or your friends because if you don't, the bully will continue to hassle you until you do. It is always better to just deal with the situation than to let it go on an on," his father had told him. The memory of his father made him madder, and Draco was going to pay the price.

Darren raised his fist, about to strike Draco with all his strength, when he heard the one thing that could have stopped him. He heard Cho.

"Darren, please don't," he heard.

He stopped, his fist hovering in midair, wanting to strike this little piece of filth, to make the pain he had felt fro so long go away, if not forever, then for at least a few minutes.

"Darren, let him go, it is over, let him go," he heard her say again.

His anger began to fade, and he shoved Draco to his friends.

"You will pay for this Clarkson, my father will make sure of it, you will see!" Draco screamed.

"Your father is in Azkaban, Malfoy, so quit threatening me with him," Darren retorted.

"Not any more he isn't Clarkson." Draco threw a copy of the Daily Prophet at Darren, who took it and saw the headline on the front page. His heart sank when he saw Lucius Malfoy's picture and what was written under it.

Lucius Malfoy Released From Azkaban by Minister Decree