Thank you to me whole TWO reviewers ... yes, it's sad, but they were good reviews, I suppose.
Thanks Mem, and I honestly wouldn't know how good that is, I just picked something weird. BTW Everyone has lives, but unlike some fics, I just show them, because without it, what kind of a fic is it, anyways?
Thanks to Sage and Snape for your wonderful review. By the way ... UPDATE IT'S DRIVING ME MAD!! I KNOW YOU WERE AWAY BUT GEEZ! Okay I should hardly talk... but please, do update soon, on both stories! Peace out!
Chapter Five - A Name and A Reputation
Drea walked into the Great Hall, found Candra, Xander, Chase and Jadon at the table, and sat down with them. They spoke momentarily about their classes, but where interrupted buy the deep yet cold voice of Draco Malfoy.
"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" he called across the Hall.
Hermione, along with the cute redhead and a well-built raven-haired boy, turned around to face him.
"What?" asked the redhead shortly.
"Your dad's in the paper Weasley! Listen to this!
"FURTHUR MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
"It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for it's poor crowd control at the Quiddich World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office."
Draco looked up. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley, it's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?"
Everyone in the Great Hall was listening now, and Draco continued loudly.
"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved with a tussle with several Muggle law-keeps ('policemen') over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from he Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.
"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"
"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said the raven-haired boy. "C'mon, Ron ..."
"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Draco. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"
"You know your mother, Malfoy?" asked the raven-haired boy, whom Drea had just realized was Harry Potter. He grabbed onto the back of the redhead's robes, then continued. "That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or is it just because you were with her?"
Draco's face went pink and his eyes narrowed in anger. "Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter," he threatened.
"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," said Harry, turning away.
BANG!
Several people around Drea screamed. She saw something white fly past Harry's face, but was distracted by another loud BANG.
"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" Drea heard the rough voice of Professor Moody call out.
Drea looked back toward Harry and Draco, but Draco was nowhere to be found. Instead, Drea noticed that Professor Moody's wand was pointing to a white ferret, which had definitely not been there before.
Silence filled the Great Hall; nobody but Moody moved a muscle, and he turned to look at Harry. "Did he get you?" he asked in a low voice.
"No," said Harry, "missed."
"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted.
"Leave - what?" asked Harry.
"Not you - him!" Moody growled, pointing to Crabbe, one of Draco's 'bodyguards' as Drea came to think of them.
Draco the amazing ferret boy scurried across the Great Hall, but Moody caught him with his magical eye. "I don't think so!" he cried, pointing his wand at the ferret again. It flew into the air, then fell with a smack on to the floor. This continued while Moody said. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned. Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do ... Never do that again."
"Professor Moody!" shrieked the unmistakable voice of Professor McGonagall.
"Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Moody calmly.
"What - what are you doing?"
"Teaching."
"Teach- Moody, is that a student?" she screamed, spilling her books.
"Yep."
"No!" she cried, and suddenly Draco re-appeared on the floor, red in the face, tears in his eyes. Drea could tell that he was crying more out of shame and embarrassment than out of pain. He got to his feet, wincing, and glanced at Drea. She gave him a dirty look, then turned and walked out of the Great Hall. She had had enough of his changing personalities.
Draco sat on the floor of the Great Hall, scanning the crowd for Drea. He found her standing by the mudblood girl, Candy or something rather. He tried to smile a bit, hoping to appear unfazed, but instead of the comforting look that he had dared to hope for, he received a very nasty glare and watched as she turned and stormed out of the Great Hall.
"- detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of house!"
"I'll do that then," replied Moody, his magical eye staring at Draco, as though piercing through his very soul.
"He'll be out of here as soon as my father hears abou-" Draco muttered to himself, but was interrupted by Moody.
"Oh yeah," said Moody to Draco alone. "Well I know your father of old, boy ... you tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son ... you tell him that from me ... now, your Head of house'll be Snape, will it?"
"Yes," said Draco, resenting the man more than the Dark Lord himself.
"Another old friend," growled Moody. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape ... come on, you."
Moody grabbed Draco's upper arm and dragged him off to the dungeons.
My father'll certainly have something to say about this, he thought to himself. He's a weak, groveling, poor excuse for a father, but he does have his uses. He'll take my side of it, as always. Snape will be harder to convince; he's always been harder on me. As though it's my fault that -
A loud pounding on Snape's door interrupted Draco's thoughts.
Draco heard the man slide his chair away from his desk, then counted out the thirteen steps that it took him to reach the door. It always took the man thirteen steps. Draco knew that it wasn't intentional, but the Professor always seemed to take thirteen steps, no matter where he was in the room. If he was far away, he took larger steps; closer to the door meant smaller steps.
Once again, Draco's thought were interrupted, but this time it was by the cross-looking man on the other side of the doorframe. He could tell by his expression that the Professor had been grading the first year potions.
Severus Snape sat at his desk, grading the first year potions. He had given out several Dreadfuls, along with the occasional Poor. He was about to go to the Great Hall for something to eat, hoping that when he came back, the task wouldn't seem as dull, when there was a loud knock on the door.
Severus sighed loudly to himself, wondering what anyone could possibly need at this time, then pushed his chair away from his desk, stood up, walked to the door ...
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen!
... and opened it. He had had to take smaller steps in the end, but it was one of his many quirks that nobody knew about. He wondered if anybody had caught on yet, but seriously doubted it.
On the other side Severus found a triumphant looking Moody and a less-than-proud Draco. He gave the boy a disapproving, questioning look. After a few moments of contemplation, he finally spoke up.
"Well, are you going to tell me what the problem is, or are we going to stand here wasting time trying to figure one another out?"
"Ah, good to see you too, Snape," Moody said with a crooked smile. Severus noted that this was a very strange thing to see. "You haven't changed a bit."
"Thank you for that observation, Moody," Severus said with a sneer. "Now, what is the problem?" Severus asked, narrowing his eyebrows in disgust. Moody had always been hard to get along with, not only because of his natural eccentricity, but also because he knew how to get to the Professor.
"Mr Malfoy here attacked another student, while his back was turned, I might add," Moody replied, grinning stupidly, as though he had accomplished a major feat by forming the sentence correctly. Severus gave Draco his best scowl, the returned his attention to Moody.
"Surely you are capable or handling such a situation on your own, Professor," Severus said, amused.
"I tried," Moody said, smirking (also a strange thing to see), "but Professor McGonagall didn't seem to approve of my ... erm ... methods," he finished, chuckling to himself.
"I see," Severus answered, drawing out the two syllables. "I'll take care of him, Moody."
Severus expected Moody to take the hint and leave the room, but he stayed put.
"You may leave now, Professor Moody," Severus said tersely.
"See you around, Snape," he responded darkly, leaving the room and walking back toward the Great Hall.
Draco listened to the clunk, clunk, clunk of Moody's fake leg until he could hear it no more. He glanced up at the Professor, unsure of what his reaction would be. Professor Snape only sighed, shaking his head at him, then walked back to his desk.
Professor Snape put his head in his hands, then looked up and Draco. Raising an eyebrow, then lowering it quickly, the Potion's master said, callously, "Close the door, Mr Malfoy."
Feeling stupid, and ashamed that he had failed to remember the one thing that Snape always asked him to do, Draco quickly closed the door.
"Sit down," said Snape, not glancing up.
"Yes, sir," answered Draco.
After several minutes of silence (or so it felt to Draco), Snape looked up at him. "Not that it much matters, but whom did you attack, Mr Malfoy?"
Draco hated it when the Professor called him Mr Malfoy, and Snape knew it. He only used that voice with Draco when he had really tried the older man's patience.
"Potter," answered Draco, short and angrily.
"And why, Mr Malfoy, did you do this?"
"I was simply reading Weasley an article from the Daily Prophet, the one about his father, when suddenly Potter started insulting my mother and-"
"Mr Malfoy, we both know that, as much as we hate Potter and Weasley, they would not start verbally abusing you without due cause. Think of it as a lack of backbone, if you must, but it is true. I have another detention tonight at 8 o'clock, therefore will not be able to attend to you as I should, but I trust that you will be able to behave yourself. There are several cauldrons in the other room that need cleaning. You can clean those out, and then you may leave."
"Yes, Professor," Draco answered sullenly, then walked into the spare room.
Draco stopped halfway through the doorway to stare in shock at the mess in front of him. Even Longbottom never created this much trouble, he thought to himself. There were twelve cauldrons in the room, several still containing unknown liquid. Draco performed a complex spell that Snape had taught him years ago to solve that problem, but there were still seven cauldrons left, each one with a different colour of potion burnt onto the bottom.
Draco first tried several spells to rid himself of the mess, but none prevailed. Next, he tried pouring hot water and a special cleanser into the cauldrons, which worked to a certain degree, but took him a very long time. After an hour he realized that the coloured potion was heaped on in layers, and he had only finished one cauldron and two layers on the next.
Severus rubbed his temples gently, frustrated that, yet again, he wasn't going to get a chance to eat. He had missed the dinner meal because of an unfortunate encounter with Professor Trelawny, which had caused him to visit the hospital wing, as well as losing his appetite.
Shuddering at the memory of the encounter, Severus returned his thoughts to Draco. It's not the talent that he lacks, he thought to himself, but his attitude is really becoming a problem. The older he gets, the harder it is for him to keep his mouth shut.
Sighing, Severus returned to grading the first year potions. His stomach was becoming increasingly temperamental, what with not being fed since breakfast. Severus remembered that he still had half a sandwich in his private chambers from the previous evening, and 'Accio'ed it into the room.
Suddenly, Severus heard a scream in the hall. He glanced at the clock, which read 7:48, and assumed that it had been Ms Daray, seeing the sandwich flying through the air. When she still hadn't entered the room at 7:53, Severus went out to see who had screamed. He expected to search a bit further than just outside his door, but was surprised to see Ms Daray exactly there.
"Ms Daray, was that you who screamed just a minute ago?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, yes sir, sorry if I disturbed you. I saw a sandwich flying through the air and it surprised me. It took a moment before I realized that it was a spell," Ms Daray replied quickly, as though afraid that she had offended him in some way.
"I see. And why are you not in my class?"
"Oh, you asked me to be here at 8 o'clock, and I was early, so I decided to wait outside so that I wouldn't bother you."
"Well, I've given up on the first year potions for the evening, so you might as well come in now, Ms Daray," Severus said witha bit of humor, although he was certain that she would miss it. He was wrong; to his surprise, she smiled slightly, nodded in understanding, and walked into the room. She placed her school bag on the floor and took a seat in her usual desk.
Severus gazed at her, then walked back to his desk. Without looking up he said, "You will organize the ingredient shelves over on the right side of the room. There are diagrams above each shelf to indicate where each ingredient should go." He waited for a reaction, but Ms Daray simply nodded and set to work. She certainly is a strange one, Severus thought to himself.
About twenty minutes later, Draco came into the room. "Professor," he asked, "would it be alright if I used the fires to boil the water in the cauldrons. I think it might help it to loosen up."
Severus pondered the statement for a fraction of a moment, then replied. "I don't see any reason why not. If you believe that it will help, do it."
Severus wasn't about to give out answers to the boy, he needed to learn them on his own. If only the boy would do his research, he would have learned by now that a simple mixture of -
A glance in the general direction of Ms Daray showed that she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure whether she should interrupt or not.
"Ms Daray? Did you have something to add?"
"I was just going to suggest that Draco add baking powder to the water. It is slightly abrasive and is very effective in the removal of burnt ingredients." Blushing, she added, "I had to use it a lot when I was first starting. Of course, you have to keep in mind that birch bark, tail of newt, purple moss and groundfire mushrooms aren't in the potion to be removed."
Severus stared at the girl for a few moments, trying to figure out where she got the courage to speak to him, during a detention, of such things. It wasn't that she did anything wrong, more the shock of someone suggesting something to him.
"You forgot Bulgarius plant," he said matter-of-factly.
Ms Daray's eyes began to water, and she turned away quickly. "Of course, sir, I should have never suggested it. It was a dumb idea anyway. Of course you would know how to remove potion, you are the Potion's master, after all, writer of 16 essays, 12 articles and the finder of the 13 uses of Skrewt."
Severus stared at her, silently wondering how she knew so much about him. True, he had written 14 articles, and 17 essays, but they had been very recent. He noticed that her voice began to crack at the end of her sentence.
"I should be removing points for that lack of knowledge."
"Yes sir, I understand."
"However, you did manage to name the four most lethal and common ingredients. Five points to Slytherin."
Severus couldn't believe what he had just done. He had just given out points during a detention.
Drea could not believe what had just happened. She had just received points during a detention with the most hated man in the school. She had only been in the school for two days, and already she knew that he was widely disliked by most.
"Thank you, Professor," she managed to mutter before turning around to finish the shelves.
Twenty minutes later she heard the silky voice of Professor Snape telling Draco that he could leave. Drea had totally forgotten that he was there, and was presently bending over to reach the bottom shelves.
She stood up, embarrassed, just in time to catch Draco looking at her as he left. She felt her cheeks going pink, and turned around, hoping that Professor Snape hadn't seen.
Another half-hour later, Drea had finally finished the shelves. She went up to the Professor's desk, and politely asked, "What would you like me to do now, sir?"
"Take a seat, Ms Daray," the Professor responded, looking deadly serious now. "I have some questions that I need to ask you about Ms Parkinsons comments."
"But Professor, you said that we didn't nee-"
"I let you off yesterday because I could see that you were hurt," he said kindly. "Now that you have calmed down, I am going to have to hear the whole story behind what she said."
Drea took a deep breath. She had never in her life told anyone about her parents and Demetri, but the Professor seemed strangely forward. She took another deep breath, hoping to block off her eyes and seal in the pain.
"When I was two years old, my father left my mother and me to fend for ourselves. They had never been married, therefore it was quite easy for him to leave.
"At age seven, my mother met a new man, Demetri, who took me in and cared for me like his own. He did everything for me that a father should do, therefore I consider him to be my real dad.
"When I turned thirteen, my mother deserted me and Demetri to run off with some guy, I never did find out who. Demetri's raised me ever since."
There was moment of silence, during which Drea tried to come up with a better reason for Pansy calling her an orphan. As an after-thought, she added, "I don't really have a legal guardian. Demetri is working on it, but I suppose that would be why Pansy called me an orphan."
Severus was in shock. He could never have imagined in his life someone leaving a child that young. And thriteen years old is hardly an appropriate age for a young woman to be left without a female role model. Images that he would have rather long forgotten flooded his memory; his father beating him, beating hiss mother, leaving them, not coming home for weeks. But at least I had my mother to take care of me. Both her parents left this girl. I can't imagine what it must have bee-
"Er ... Professor?"
"What did you say your parents' names were?" he asked suddenly, remembering that he had initially recognized her.
"Trevor Harrow and Dorothy Daray," she replied uncertainly.
Trevor and Dorothy! They're well renowned Death Eaters! I wonder how much this girl knows about this.
"Thank you for being honest with me, Ms Daray," said Severus, hoping that his eyes hadn't given him away. He had a slight tendancy to allow them to do that around students. "You are dismissed. You have learned your lesson on striking people, then?"
"Yes, sir, I'm really sorry about that. It won't happen again."
But Severus never ended up answering her, for he was lost in thought about her parents.
Drea walked out of the room, carrying her bag over one shoulder. As soon as she was out of the Professor's sight range, she began to cry. She wasn't bawling, but small streams of tears dripped down her face. She took a few minutes to recover, then began to walk down to the Dorms.
When she arrived in the Common Room, Xander, Chase and Draco were there. Draco was reading a book away from the other two, and Drea took a seat in a large, forest green chair. She considered saying hello to Draco, but then she remembered how he had acted in the Great Hall, and decided that he didn't' deserve to be spoken to.
"You're alive," said the friendly, taunting voice of Xander.
"So it would seem," Drea replied dryly, noticing too late that it had been kind of rude.
"How was it?" Chase asked.
"Actually, it wasn't near as bad as you guys said that it would be," she replied nonchalantly.
"Malfoy said that you actually got points," said Chase incredulously.
"Yeah, I did," said Drea, looking over at Draco, who was now studying his book more closely than ever.
"I never saw you as the suck-up kind," teased Chase.
"There's a lot about me you don't know," Drea replied seductively, although in a way, it was true.
Chase pretended to swoon, then said, "Back off! I'm taken," while forming a cross out of his fingers.
Xander stared curiously while Drea retorted with a sly, "So I heard."
Chase began to laugh, then noticed the look from Xander. "I saw it in a movie once, okay?" he explained.
"Whatever," replied Xander, who had no idea what a movie was.
"I'm off though, I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"G'Night Sleepyhead," said Chase.
"'Night Drea," said Xander.
"Good night, Draco," said Drea at the last minute. She received a very strange look from the two other boys.
"Good night, Drea," he replied. She received an even stranger look from the other two.
"Whatever" she muttered to herself, then walked to the bathroom. She 'accio'ed the things that she needed to get ready, cleaned herself up, then walked back down the hallway. On the way, she bumped into something large, flat and semi-hard. She looked up to realize that the hard, flat surface had been Draco's abs.
There was an awkward silence between the two, during which Drea was trying to figure out what Draco wanted.
"You left your bag in the Common Room," Draco eventually said.
"Oh, thanks," Drea replied lamely. "Did you get my note?" she asked, hoping to make him laugh.
"Yes, I did," he replied. "And yes, I would."
"You're sick," she said, punching him playfully in the shoulder.
"Yeah, I am, but you have to remember that you started it."
"True," said Drea, causing a pause in the conversation. Drea considered asking Draco about why he'd been such a jerk in the Great Hall, but instead asked, "Did you finish with my notes?"
"Yeah, they're in my room. I'll get them for you."
Drea followed Draco down the hall to his room, although she already knew where it was. Draco went inside to find the notes, which he had shoved under his bed, and Drea looked around the room. She noticed a VERY attractive boy sleeping on top of his bed with nothing but his boxer shorts on.
"Here they are," Draco said, handing her the notes. They were slightly more wrinkled than when Drea had given them to him, but she didn't mind. She was more interested in the boy on the bed.
"Thanks. Who's he? I haven't met him yet," she asked, hoping to sound casual.
"That's Blaise. He's a prat though, all he cares about are legs and getting his over."
"Oh," Drea replied, not really knowing what that meant, but assuming that it was bad. "Well, I should get to bed. See you tomorrow Draco.
"Sleep well, Drea."
Draco watched Drea walk into her room, then went back into his own. Sleep well? What was I thinking? Yes Draco, that is definitely going to get her to like you, he thought to himself angrily. He slipped off his clothes, pulled on red boxers and a black t-shirt, and crawled into bed. It was pointless, of course, as he couldn't get Drea off his mind. She had always called him by his first name, never by his last. It made him feel as though she thought of him as a person, not just a name and a reputation. Of course, there had been the look in the Great Hall, but she's said good night and joked around with him, had she not?
Thoughts like these ran though Draco's head until, around 3:30, he finally dropped off.
There! Done! Truth be told, I've actually wrote this whole stupid chapter a month ago, but then I accidentally deleted it while writing chapter 6, so I had to re-write it. Personally, I liked it better the first time, but I was so eager to get it over with that I kinda slacked off in bits. Anywhos, let me know what you think. THANKS!! R&R PLEASE. Even if you just write "Hey, I read it" That'd be great