Love's Talent
Chapter 13: Contestants Connive
LunarianPrincess
A talent contest and performing class brings new alliances and blooming romance, but is a sinister force trying to prevent it from being successful?
Pairings: GW/DM; KS/DS; some HP/LL and HG/RW
SDA, I do own Darien Solaro and Kassara Saravati. This is in Ginny's sixth year and some of the characters might seem OOC, but bear with me. Feedback is appreciated, but please try to keep criticism constructive, Thanx in advance
WARNING: there will be a little use of profanity in this chapter, so please be warned!
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Last Chapter-------
Ginny sat with her arms wrapped around her legs. She stared at the ceiling considering her feelings, she realized she was jealous. She was jealous of Jade's relationship with Draco. She had finally come to terms with why now too, she felt something for him. That was something, a Weasley caring for a Malfoy. What a laughable idea. She could never reveal it, no matter how neutral and passive he was towards her lately, if he found out she would never hear the end of it. She fell to sleep slowly, too worried about what would happen if her secret was revealed.
Now---------------
Malfoy listened to Dare's tirade with half an ear. Malfoy was sitting with Dare listening to him rant about his sister's new disposition and choice of clothing. He two was bemused by the change in Jade, however he was not preoccupied with that so much as the way she and Ginny had reacted to each other. It struck him as quite odd, both girls had sort of been frozen for a second then Jade had sort of leered and Ginny had shrunk in on herself. All in all, it was rather unusual. He looked up at the under side of the canopy, fiddling with the drawstring on his pajama pants.
Not to mention how he had felt when Jade had turned that odd predatory smile Ginny's way. The feelings roused were nothing short of protective. It was very odd, he could not imagine what kind of threat Jade could possibly pose to Ginny but nonetheless he could only say what he had felt. Which in itself was odd, Malfoy's were notorious for never feeling anything. He could not believe that he had felt like protecting a Weasley, if his father ever found out… he didn't even want to think about the possibilities. Even though he no longer lived with his father, he could just imagine what would happen if his father ever got his hands on him.
He wanted to escape his puzzling feelings, desperately he wondered if Dare wanted to go to the common room to play a game of wizard's chess.
"Hey, Dare, you up for a game of wizards chess?" he asked hopefully. Dare gratefully agreed, happy for a distraction from his sister's odd behavior. They threw on robes over their pajamas and headed down to the common room. When they entered the chess table was being used by a first and second year near the fire. With a few well placed glares and threatening comments, the two boys quickly abandoned their post. Draco and Dare sat down with chuckles, immediately replacing the pieces to their starting positions.
"That wasn't particularly nice, Draco," a sardonic voice announced. Draco turned as two figures sat on opposite sides of the board and saw two girls looking at him, the auburn haired girl had a slight smile on her face, while the girl with purple streaks in her hair was glaring with a wry smile on her face. He gave a devilishly handsome smile and moved first, as he was white. (PIECES NOT RACE!) Jenni shook her head at him, while her companion snickered.
"If you can't say anything nice then you're probably talking to an asshole," Brie spoke up, for a second everyone stared at her in confusion, before shaking their heads and snickering. "WHAT! I thought it was funny," Brie cocked her head, plucking a hair from its plait.
"Sure, Brie, ya really need to work on that humor of yours," Jenni remarked sarcastically to her oblivious friend. "Now, Malfoy, what's with the whole brute squad performance?" she asked astringently.
"Nothing, I'm just a little on edge, I need something to take my mind off things," he said, harried by the observant eyes on him. he moved his piece and watched as it obliterated Dare's pawn, it gave him a savage triumph and an odd guilty feeling. He glanced up to find three pairs of eyes still trained on him. "Wow, now I know how the animals in the zoo feel, take a damn picture it'll last longer," he huffed, shoving a hand through his hair.
"You do realize, that Draco Malfoy, just admitted his mind was on things and he was on edge, don't you," Brie asked her friend pointedly, "Okay, where are the other signs of the Apocalypse, you know it's the end of the world when a Malfoy starts to feel, right?" At this statement Jenni knocked her friends upside the head, Draco laughed at the girl's accurate perception.
"Yep, just don't tell my father, he might just disown me, as he is always threatening to do," Draco admitted wryly, he sank back in his chair wearily. "Man I feel like writing, I'm going to go back to the room," he announced and left, already distracted and thinking of lyrics.
Draco sat on the couch that lay under the windows and wrote furiously, after a few preliminary lyrics he grabbed his guitar and played with a few different riffs. Finally satisfied with one he chose it, and then altered the lyrics to fit the beat. A while later Dare returned and went to bed, Draco was still scribbling and strumming his guitar. Finally he was satisfied with the song. It went something like this:
I was alone and cold
For so long
No inspiration within these broken songs
Then in a crash and a clatter you fell into my world
And I swear to God you're the most beautiful girl
I can't fall down gotta get off of the ground cause I can't see you
I won't be so obvious if you won't be so cruel
I can't fall down gotta get off of the ground cause I can't hear you
Time meets breath with a zooming crash 'cause my eyes won't wait for you
Repeat
And I can't hear you
Building all my hopes on 88 kings
Asking if you could be my sweet Constantine
They all watched in awe in that
Cold tiled room
And I helped myself up as I asked this of you
I can't fall down gotta get off of the ground cause I can't see you
I won't be so obvious you won't be so cruel
I can't fall down gotta get off of the ground cause I can't hear you
Time meets breath with a zooming crash cause my eyes won't wait for you
I can't fall down gotta get off of the ground cause I can't see you
I won't be so obvious you won't be so cruel
I can't fall down gotta get off of the ground cause I can't hear you
Time meets breath with a zooming crash cause my eyes won't wait for you
And I can't hear you
Can't fall down gotta get off of the ground cause I can't see you
Can't fall down gotta get up out of this town cause I cant hear you
Finally he put his guitar away and crept into bed. Exhausted, he quickly fell to sleep. He found his way through macabre dreams and woke up in the morning, oddly refreshed and insightful. He got dressed in a hurry and walked to the Great Hal for breakfast, with a jaunty air. It seemed he had reclaimed his calm and self-assurance. That is until he saw a head of flame red hair, and a sweet smile aimed his way. He immediately felt his heart begin to pump faster. He sat down with a slight scowl on his face. Dare smiled at him, commiserating and wisely staying silent.
Draco went through the day listlessly, he always had the right answer and to his friends he looked just as cocky and confident as ever, but those who knew him recognized the weary method of his actions. This was especially evident when he went into his last class that day. There McGonagall was, behind her desk, ready to teach them what they would need to become Animagi. Yet he wasn't remotely fascinated, as he was normally. Suddenly a whisper reached his ears from behind him.
"Malfoy, what's wrong?" the melodious voice inquired.
"Nothing, I'm just a little tired I guess, Weasley," he responded. Another voice joined the first.
"Well, I'm sorry Draco, but could I talk to you after class?" they politely asked.
"Of course Jade, I'll meet you after class," he answered dutifully. After Class he followed Jade to a deserted corridor, a little ways away from the library. After making sure no one was around, Jade turned to him.
"I need your help," she said desperately. Malfoy inspected her and saw a fearful look in her eyes. There was a haunted weariness that he could see now where he had not seen before. He felt a frisson of fear go down his spine at her helpless, hopeless and troubled look in her jade eyes, so different from the beguiling, entrancing, hazel eyes he had become used too.
"Anything, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"I can't talk long, be careful, he always watches, and I can only break free for a little while, you need to find the key and get help from the one you would never ask it from, he seeks her, the one they call the snake charmer," as she said this, she began to cough and her hand flew to her neck, her eyes went dull and Draco grabbed her to keep her from falling to the ground. Suddenly a noise reached his ears.
"What do you mean, Kasi, I already got your book, c'mon we can leave the library now," the lilting giggle was so familiar and he felt a moment of panic. He looked up as she rounded the corner, he watched in horror as her eyes widened in shock.
"Ginny!" he called as her eyes filled with tears. She shook her head and turned and ran. Kasi looked at them with anger before racing after her friend. Draco completely forgot about Jade as he raced in the direction Ginny had taken.
A malicious smile grew onto Jade's face. Her eyes were vacant, and there was a tear sliding down her cheek as she watched her brother's best friend race after the girl he loved.
"You have done well," the voice was harsh, otherworldly, and completely disembodied. As Jade heard this, the hall was filled with silence.
Credits: The song used for this chapter is called The Taylor Graves Experience and it is by Lakeshore Drive, a local band from Arizona, check out their website PS my cousin is the in the band, his name is Matt.
Thank yous to my faithful, lovely, brilliant, wonderful reviewers, who helped me reach 50 reviews. It is just for you that I persevered in order to complete this chapter this week:
Dracosbaby7: Thank you so much, take your time, I am very sorry for your loss. I definitely loved your ideas, your reviews are so helpful, every time I feel like giving up your words help me to keep writing. I was hoping that's how people reacted to Jade, actually I modeled her after myself, under a little outside influence. ::hint,hint:: Thanks for always being so supportive!
Petita: Muchas Gracias! Yo saco (sacas, saca, saquemos, y sacan, ¿verdad? Probably not, I wasn't very good in Spanish class.) español en mi escuela por tres años, as you can see, I'm not very good at, even though my grandparents are from México. I'm glad you are able to enjoy my story, that's a great thing you said!
MoonFaith: I'm glad, hope this gets better so you keep liking it!
BlackRoseGirl: I really like your name, and on that random note I continue, She has a reason for being evil, a really good one too! I'll try to get there soon, I only have a few more twists to present, thanks for reviewing.
sakura-no-hana-hoshi: I'm glad you had so many questions, I hope you keep reading in order to have them answered, hope you like this chapter!
wisperinglilies: I will definitely try to put in more action, I was trying to build up tension, thanks for taking the time to review.
gordo-girl89: thanks I'm glad you liked the storyline, I actually got it from a dream I had. Thanks for saying my story is amazing, that is so nice!
Hoppers: yep, its always the ones close to you who are totally oblivious, and having be your best friend is really hard, I can totally identify! Good, actually that necklace comes from a question I had about one of the books, so it will bring in the past, ::foreshadowing:: J/k I hope I'm not making it too obvious! Thanks for the review!
Monkeys rok my sox: The necklace does have a lot to do with how Jade is, Lizz Fiz is actually the name of a girl in my musical class, though her last name was changed, btw thanks for submitting a character, I will definitely try to fit her in!