Disclaimer time - ok . . .blah, blah no, I do not own Draco (much to my great dismay), Hermione or any other characters you may recognize, if I did the movies would get far more interesting, trust me. I need to say thanks to, Heather, my amazing beta reader, who brings a sense of order to my overly excessive use of adverbials, an almost obsessive impulse to insert commas and the ever-irresistible run-on sentences, I'm so fond of, and without whom this story wouldn't be nearly as readable ;) In regards to the last chapter, the lemon – FFnet has apparently disabled viewing email addresses in reviews, so some people who wanted the uncut version didn't (also some of your addies just didn't work). It sucks and so I've come up with yet ANOTHER solution that will hopefully work so deleting the spaces go to http : www . livejournal . com / users / kelticsoul / 84109 . html (my lj, if you need to click on the hyperlink). If this is a problem for anyone, let me know & I'll see what else I could do. And of course, any typos & grammatical errors are, as usual, my fault . . . sorry. Anyway, such a long AN – I'm sorry, let's get back into the story . . .
Chapter 31 - Something Special Scheduled . . .
Even to the most casual of observer, the waves of tension were nearly overwhelming the room. Hermione and Draco sat in their normal seats on the far end of the room, they had arrived early and prepared. Not only did they have a bottled example of the potion, the ingredients to demonstrate the making and a detailed lecture, but they had also a bottled example of the antidote, as well. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron, who had just rushed into the room, their robes waving wildly behind them, tried and failed to avoid Snape's blistering glare.
Quickly shuffling into their seats with the majority of the class staring at them curiously, Ron for one was struggling to keep himself from fleeing the scene of impending disaster and leaving Harry to face the consequences alone. As far as he was concerned, he had done all the prep work, so the actual act of giving the presentation was Harry's entire responsibility. If they both failed . . . well then, whatever and he shrugged. At this point, he really couldn't bring himself to be worried about it at all.
Hermione, on the other hand, was doing her best to maintain her composure. If Draco hadn't bullied her out of bed this morning, she would have been perfectly content ditching class for the rest of the day, presentation be damned. A secret smile crossed her lips as she remembered everything that had happened last night and what she had to look forward to tonight.
Glancing over to her, Draco smirked as he saw a faint hint of color bloom across her cheeks. She was absolutely adorable when she blushed and he could only imagine that she was thinking of last night, which had proved to be even beyond his expectations. On impulse, he reached under the table to take hold of her upper thigh, squeezing just tight enough to gain her unwavering attention. He didn't spare her so much as a look, but he could feel her small jump under his touch and her suddenly intense stare.
"You alright there?" His voice was cool in her ear as he leaned into her and she could clearly hear the just barely restrained amusement in it.
Hermione turned her head slightly in his direction. "You really are a bastard, you know that, right?"
"Perhaps so, but at the very least, you must admit that I am the bastard who adores you." His smirk widened, as her blush grew darker.
Snape stood behind his desk, surveying today's unusually talkative class, wincing at their apparent liveliness. Between the obviously unprepared duo of Potter and Weasley, to the overly cozy in public for his taste pairing of Draco and Hermione, anything could happen today. This reminded him that he was going to have to pull Draco aside before the end of this class. Considering that his latest review of potion materials and the interesting choice and amount that were missing, he could more than guess at what they had been up to of late. Normally, he tried to live in denial of his students 'extracurricular activities,' but considering the two students involved and the overall situation, being a tad bit more prudent wouldn't be a bad thing at all. This was going to be a conversation that he was going to dread. The potions master wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose, despite the prospect of the humiliation of Potter and Weasley, he had a sneaking suspicion that today was just going to be a bad day all around.
"The next person to utter a single word not pertaining to this class, shall have the great honor of spending their evenings for the next two weeks in detention with me. " Snape took a moment or two to deliver a pointed stare at a few miscreants, with a snide smile, as the noise level fell to an absolute silence.
"Excellent, I am pleased to see that you have enough discipline to at least obey the most meager of instructions when so prompted." He walked around his desk to stand in front of it. "Now today we have something special scheduled . . . hmmm, now whatever could it have be?"
Hermione's hand immediately shot up into the air as she ignored the dry arch of Draco's eyebrow next to her. Snape fought back the temptation to roll his eyes. He knew that he could always count on Miss Granger to be the first with an answer to anything. "Oh yes, now I remember. Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy in conjunction with Messers Potter and Weasley have presentations to show us today. On the Aphrodite and Brimstone and Treacle potions, respectively, I believe. The only question left, aside from who will fail and who will be moved on to glory, is who shall go first."
Ron took one glance over at the transfixed expression on Harry's face as he glared at Hermione and that git Malfoy's table and it began to disturb him. Pick us, you old bastard, pick us, damnit – the last thing I want is to follow Hermione. That is just too cruel. As if on cue, Snape's eyes caught Ron's mid-prayer and, with a sinking stomach, the redheaded Griffindor could only listen in disbelief as he heard the announcement. "Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy, you may begin your presentation at your leisure."
Draco stood up, imperiously holding out a hand for Hermione to take. From the sharp glint in his eyes, she knew it wouldn't be worth the argument they'd have later on to refuse and in all honesty, she really had no desire to. A corner of his mouth rose in a faint smile as he grabbed his bag and smoothly swung it up onto his shoulder as he led Hermione down to the table brought in for this express purpose. Snape stood up, even as the volume level in the class began to reach, what for the Potion's class was, a deafening proportion at the sight of them publicly holding hands.
His eyebrows snapped ominously. "Miss Patel, congratulations, you have just acquired a two week long detention. Would anyone else like to join us?" He paused for a brief moment, before continuing, "No? Well, in that case, I would strongly suggest that you all remain silent." He waited until both Hermione and Draco sat down, before he retook his seat.
Laying out their supplies, Draco immediately slumped back into his chair – arms crossed in front of his chest, legs stretched out under the table and a sullen expression on his face. Hermione shot him an almost aghast look that he just shrugged off with a uniquely Malfoyian sneer. With a somewhat sharp elbow and the slightest nod of his head that sent his hair elegantly falling and hid most of his face from their audience, he indicated that Hermione should start and she was quick to take the hint. Flashing him a bright smile, she began her intensely researched lecture, outlining exhaustively the history, origins, magical components, significance and etc, etc of the Aphrodite potion.
For his part, Draco preferred to sit back and give Hermione her time to shine. Considering their opponents in this little competition, he figured that as much as he'd enjoying showing up Potter and the Weasel, it would be infinitely more satisfying to allow Hermione the pleasure, while he basked in the reflected glory of it. Listening to her with only one ear really, he spent most of his time scanning the expressions across the classroom, mentally taking notes of who was bored or who was gossiping. He was fully aware that they were the most likely topic for conversation and he shook his head mildly annoyed, the majority of them were just fucking peasants, who'd get theirs in the end. He paid special attention to certain people of course – Potter who was alternately giving him a death stare between gazing longingly at Hermione, it was enough to make Draco vaguely ill.
Weasley was apparently sleeping and he had to resist the temptation to break out laughing, he almost felt sorry for the Gryffindor. But the impulse died when he turned to Pansy, he was all too familiar with that look in her eyes and from experience he knew that it only ever meant trouble. Staring her down, he smirked slightly when she broke eye contact with him, perhaps it was small and petty of him, but he had to admit to feeling a certain amount of satisfaction to putting her back in her place. She was definitely going to require watching anyway, at least, until he could figure out what she was up to this time.
Startled by an abrupt kick to his ankle, he looked over at the culprit, who was staring at him with a decidedly annoyed expression. Draco gave her a lazy smile and with a series of sarcastic and overly dramatic gestures, he began displaying the ingredients and before mixing them together to create the potion. Everything was pre-measured, so all he needed to do was mindlessly add and mix, per Hermione's verbal directions. Merlin, but he was bored.
Finally the potion was complete, so when Snape stood up and walked over, Draco handed him both stopped bottles for his examination. Holding them up in the air, each in one hand, the potions master admired the contrasts between the two potions. "Hmmm, excellent work." He directed his next words to the class. "You can clearly see the difference between the one that Draco just prepared and the fully completed potion. The color and clarity is particularly good considering the difficulty level involved in the brewing."
Ron picked his head off his arms folded on the table and half opened one bloodshot eye. "All that is left now is to test its effectiveness," Snape continued. Ron's other eye snapped fully open. Don't say it, Snape. Whatever you do, don't say it, he chanted to himself in his head. "Draco, would you like the honor?"
"Sonovabitch." Ron swore under his breath as watched Draco nod his head in agreement, before reaching out, to take the bottle, uncork it and swallow nearly a third of it. That's it - Ron shook his head. We're unbelievably screwed now and he resolved that no matter what, when it was his and Harry's turn there was no way in hell, he was going to be the one to swallow that foul concoction that he only just finished at six thirty something that morning. Looking over at Harry, he was disgusted to see that his partner's attention was focused solely on Draco.
Apparently, not only was Harry unconcerned about the prospect that one of them was going to have to sample their half-assed potion, or the fact that even if by some miracle it was even remotely accurate, they didn't have an antidote, but instead he was even more obsessed by his hatred of Draco than ever. Not that Ron would normally object to hating that Slytherin git, but under the circumstances he thought that they had a slightly more pressing problem, namely their potion presentation, or utter lack of one. Just thinking about it was enough to depress him and he closed his eyes again to rest his head back on the table, with any luck this was just a nightmare that he'd wake up from soon.
Had Ron kept his eyes open for a few seconds longer, he could have seen something truly bizarre. Harry, himself, was surprised by the note that floated over to him and snatched it in mid air. Turning slightly, he saw Pansy Parkinson smiling at him in a way that he could only describe as disturbing to his sense of the world order. He was almost afraid of opening it, considering her near maniacal smile, but his curiosity got the best of him.
"Potter,
Just to keep things clear, I hate you and you hate me, but like it or not, we have a mutual problem - you want them apart, as much as I do. Normally, I'd sooner kill you than look at you, but even you must admit, this is hardily a normal situation. So I propose a one-time, temporary truce. I have a plan, but unfortunately, I need your help to follow through with it. This might be our only chance, so if you're interested, meet me by the Whomping Willow tree tonight at midnight to discuss the details. If you try to double cross me, I swear that I'll see you and that mudblood bitch dead before I'm through.
Pansy"
Harry had to read through her scrawled and nearly illegible handwriting twice, before it even began to make sense to him and even then he was unsure if he could believe what she had written. Rubbing his disbelieving eyes, he read it once more to be certain, before he looked over to see her staring back at him with an impatient expression.
Pansy rolled her eyes, fucking Gryffindor scum. He shrugged stupidly at her, looking confused and she wanted to scream, how much plainer could she have made herself? Shaking her head in frustration, she quickly lifted her wand, ignoring his suddenly panicked expression and whispered a quick incantation under her breath. The note still in his hand sparked, igniting into a flash of flames and smoke, she smirked in satisfaction when he suddenly shook his hand, quickly blowing on slightly tinged fingertips. She had to stifle a laugh, when all eyes turned from Draco and her to stare at Potter, trying to figure out what he was doing.
"Since you seem to be suffering no after effects from either the potion or antidote, Draco, I think we can assume that both your and Miss Granger's lab work was, as usual, an unqualified success. Now perhaps we should see how the other team falls in comparison. Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, we are all waiting." Snape's voice sharply cut through Ron's sleepy daze and only amplified Harry's acute sense of embarrassment. Ron opened his eyes, bewildered by the remnants of smoke surrounding his table and oblivious to the red mark in the shape of a quill, imprinted on his check. Rolling his neck, he watched Snape collect three bottles and a thick rolled up scroll off the long table, while Hermione and Malfoy walked back to their desk and he slowly stood up to walk down the isle.
Harry rushed past Ron to claim Hermione's former seat, unwilling to sit in Draco's seat and slouched down. He was more than a bit disgruntled, when after a long moment of silence of him staring out into the crowd, Ron gave him a hard elbow in his ribs.
"Hey man, this is all up to you, good luck. I did the work, the least you can do is to read it and swallow the bloody potion. I want nothing to do with any of this, just pretend I'm not here." Ron unceremoniously dropped his bag on the table in front of Harry, before folding his arms and letting his chin fall against his chest.
Harry gave a long-suffering sigh as he opened the bag and started pulling out random materials haphazardly. Casting his partner, and he used that word loosely at this point, a baleful glare to which the red head was oblivious to, he tried to put everything into order.
"Need I remind you both that time is wasting? You are prepared to give this presentation, aren't you?" Snape snidely asked.
Harry ground his teeth for a moment among the tittering breaking out around the classroom. "Yes, sir," he bit out, when it was apparent that he wasn't going to get any help from Ron. Time passed painfully slowly as he tried to organize what he found in the bag. Staring at what he had laid out on the table and looking back into the now emptied bag, he hissed to Ron, "Where is the antidote?"
Ron gave a half-shrug. "Noticed that, did you? I don't know. Did you make one?" He didn't wait for an answer or even open his eyes, before he answered his own question. "Nope? Than I guess we don't have one, too bad."
Great, just fucking great, Harry wished, and not for the first time in Snape's room, that the floor would open and swallow him. Unrolling the scroll seemed to only make matters worse, as he realized that Ron's handwriting was even worse than Pansy's and rift with errors, not to mention the fact that, in total, it was less than a quarter of Hermione and Draco's presentation. He shook his head, what else was going to go wrong today?
"Ummm, so . . . yeah. The Brimstone and Treacle Potion is your basic bit of DA," he paused before correcting himself," sorry, Dark Arts . . . nastiness?" Harry's voice rose uncertainly as he struggled to both interpret and translate Ron's scribbling into something vaguely coherent. He sighed cynically, no wonder Ron refused to read this out loud. Ignoring the laughter from around the room as he stumbled through the presentation, he thought more and more about that note from Pansy.
Looking up for a moment, he caught glimpse of Draco smirking at him, with an arm around Hermione, before he leaned over to whisper something intimately in her ear. Her soft laughter that he could only see was the final straw and he made up his mind to meet with Pansy. At this point, he had nothing to lose by meeting her, although he resolved to bring Ron along in the invisibility cloak, just in case this was some sort of trap. Harry rolled his eyes, imagining the argument that was going to ensue when he told Ron their plans for the night, when he looked over at his friend and winced. Ron held the truly disgusting concoction that was an odd green color at an arms length away from himself out to him, a repulsed look on his face.
Sighing, Harry gingerly took it between his forefinger and thumb and taking a deep breath, held it to his lips and chugged it back. His mouth opened in a grimace, involuntarily gagging, as he struggled against the sudden urge to be sick in front of everyone and the glass vial fell to the ground, shattering. Ron instantly turned to him, guilt stricken as he patted him on the back helplessly. While he was quite pissed at Harry, he really hadn't meant to poison him. When he began to fall, the redhead quickly caught him and stood up, hauling Harry along with him.
Slinging a limp arm over his shoulder, Ron leaned Harry against him and turned to Snape, ready to tell him that he was taking his obviously incapacitated partner to the medical ward. Snape, however, was more than prepared and handed him a quickly bottled sample of their potion. "Here give this to Madame Pomfrey, so she knows exactly what he ingested. I would suggest that you consider levitating him as I doubt that you will be able to carry him far in his current state."
Ron nodded absently as he began carrying him off, even as Harry began turning a peculiar purple shade and growing what appeared to be horns. He had just reached the classroom door, when Snape called out to him. "Needlessly to say you both failed this assignment and that it will, of course, reflect as much in your grade this term. You may tell Potter when he regains consciousness." Biting back his sarcastic retort, Ron let the door slam a shade harder than necessary as he continued carrying Harry away.
Shortly afterwards, Snape dismissed the rest of the class and watched the class file out until he saw just the Slytherin he'd been waiting for. "Draco, a minute if you don't mind?" Turning back, the blonde realized that it was a demand, in the guise of a request and arched his eye, demonstrating his awareness of that fact. Taking his time, he whispered something to the girl at his side and slowly strolled down the aisle to where the potions master waited scowling darkly.
"You called?" His voice was just shy of impertinence.
"Yes, I just wanted to make sure that you found everything you needed while rifling through the potion supply room. After all, I wouldn't want you to be deprived in any way." Snape stared down at the younger Malfoy, willing him to break eye contact and growing annoyed when grey eyes continued to meet his own.
"Pretty much, although if I were you, I'd consider restocking dittany. I noticed you were running a bit low."
So it was going to be this way, hmmmm? Snape mentally rolled his eyes, refusing to express that particular sentiment to Draco, really hating it when he insisted on being difficult like this. "Interesting. Personally, I was more curious about certain other ingredients that seemed to be unusually low, such as lovage, hellebore, and belledonna. You wouldn't, by chance, know anything about that now, would you?"
Busted, dammit. Draco finally dropped his eyes. He figured that Snape would eventually discover what he had taken, but he had honestly been expecting a bit more time, before being accused or in this case, questioned. He shrugged his shoulders, walking over to the nearest wall, before leaning up against it. "Are you waiting for me to admit to something?"
"No. I'm sure that whoever took the materials is well aware that I have no proof, one way or the other and that under the circumstances assigning guilt would be pointless. I would just to point out the fact to whoever took those particular ingredients that in the portions taken, they are only usefully in making a Zwanger potion. Now we both know exactly what that potion is good for. The person I suspect of this thievery should also be aware of the possible consequences of their behavior, not only for themselves, but their partner as well. These aren't exactly what I would call the best of circumstances for such a blatant recklessness and disregard for the rules of this institution. Do I make myself clear?" Snape's voice was as cold and precise as Draco had ever heard the head of his house and while he wasn't cowed exactly, he was taken aback, but he quickly recovered.
"Well, if I hear anything from anyone, I'll be sure to pas that warning along. Is there anything else I could help you with?"
"No, that will be all, Mr. Malfoy." Snape abruptly turned and stalked off into his private quarters, which suited the younger Slytherin just fine as he left the classroom to find Hermione waiting behind the corner.
"Well, it's about time. What were you talking about in there?" She demanded, grabbing his hand, as she began dragging him off. "We're running late now, you know." Draco gave an amused smile as she threw her little fit, pulling her back and dropping a kiss on her lips, before he let her have her way as they walked on.
"He'll be ok, you think, right?" Hermione squeezed Draco's hand lightly, feeling slightly foolish for worrying about Harry, but it was an old habit to break.
Hearing the concern that she couldn't quite keep out of her voice, he looked down at her curiously. "Who?" He paused for a moment, before he put it together. "You mean Potter, don't you?" She nodded and he sighed, his hopes that she was beginning to get over this inexplicable, from his perspective anyway, interest in that prat, plummeting. "Trust me, Hermione, he isn't exactly the first person to poison themselves in Potions's class before. Madame Pomfrey will likely have him back on his feet, today, more's the pity."
"Draco!" She sounded vaguely scandalized.
"What?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me to feel sorry for him or guilty for being amused by the situation. As far as I'm concerned, he got what was coming to him, if he had actually taken the time to do the work properly, then he wouldn't be in this predicament. He chose to slack off, doing Merlin only knows what and he got fucked for it, as he deserved, period."
She shook her head. This thing between Harry and Draco seemed to be beyond her capacity to repair, not that either of them was particularly interested in doing so, anyway, but still it ate at her. She shrugged her shoulders, maybe Draco was right and she should just give up on Harry, but the history between him, her and Ron was something that despite the way the two of them had been acting of late was hard for her to forget. Hopefully, he'd get over himself one of these days and then, maybe, they'd be able to salvage some semblance of a friendship. Otherwise, and she tilted her head slightly, watching Draco as they walked through the hallways of Hogwarts, hand-in-hand, well, things could be worse, at least this time she wasn't alone.
Draco felt her staring at him, and looking out of the corner of his eye only confirmed his suspicion. From what he could decipher from the wistful expression on her face, he assumed that she was still thinking about Potter and it annoyed him more than he cared to admit. Not for the first time, he wondered what it was going to take for her to break from him entirely and irrevocably. He knew that he could easily create a situation making Potter look bad, with his recent behavior it wouldn't be difficult at all, but on another level, he wanted her to see him for what he really was and to make the decision on her own. But he hated seeing her like this and if she didn't realize the truth soon, he decided that he would have to step in, sometimes she was just too sweet natured for her own good and if she was unwilling to protect herself, then he would have to do it for her.
"Anyway, this is my stop." She suddenly stopped, bringing an abrupt halt to his musings. Turning towards him with a mischievous smile, she rested her free hand on his shoulder and standing on her toes, she stretched up, to give him a brief kiss to his surprise, before breaking free and darting into the open classroom. Watching her disappear into the depths of the Transfiguration classroom for a moment, he walked off with a curious little smile on his face that raised more than one eyebrow in those he passed along the way.
"Ron, what the hell time is it?" Harry nearly jumped off the bed when Ron finally appeared back in the room. Staring at these walls for what seemed like forever was driving him crazy and he was impatient beyond belief. He knew that he was ok to leave, but Madame Pomfrey refused to let him go by himself and no one else had been by to visit him.
"Ummm, I don't know 8:30 maybe?" Ron shrugged, taking a slightly startled step backwards at Harry's over-enthusiasm.
"8:30?" Harry repeated as he hopped out of bed. "Ok, that isn't as bad as I had thought. We've got three and a half hours than to plan."
"Plan what?" Ron demanded, not knowing what Harry was going on about, but he had plans with Lavender tonight.
"We're meeting Pansy tonight at midnight at the Whomping Willow tree." Harry stood at the doorway and impatiently turned around. "Ron . . . come on, we don't have the time to hang around like idiots."
Ron was dumbfounded. What? Harry seriously expected the two of them to meet Pansy . . . tonight . . . at the Whomping Willow and yet he was the idiot? Feeling Harry's eyes on him, he sarcastically mumbled something to the effect of, "yeah, we'll get right on it," while trying to figure out when Harry had officially gone over the edge.
"We should go, he's isn't coming." Pansy pulled the hood of her cloak tighter around her face as she paced nervously around the Whomping Willow, make sure to stay out of its reach. "This was such a fucking stupid idea, I don't even know why I agreed to this."
"You agreed because I'm your superior and I don't recall giving you the option of refusing. Now get yourself under control or else, Parkinson." Gage's voice was menacingly low from the shadows under the tree. Stupid fucking girl, Gage shook his head in disgust. He hated being forced to deal with such inferior peons, but under the circumstances, one had to use what was on hand and sadly for him, she was it. Luckily, however, she wasn't very bright, which meant that she actually believed his story about using Potter to separate the mudblood and Malfoy, knowing her infatuation with him, she would have only caused trouble if she guessed his real intentions.
His head jerked up, mid-thought as he looked off into the distance, towards the castle. "Stop bitching, Pansy. Potter's here , but he's not alone," he closed his eyes. "There is at least one other person with him," cocking his head slightly as he concentrated, "sounds like Weasley to me."
"B-but I don't see anyone," Pansy peered out in the direction he was facing.
He rolled his eyes in frustration. "Right, Parkinson, just because they're wizards and own an invisibility cloak doesn't mean that he could be there invisible or anything. What was I thinking?" He asked sarcastically, ignoring her attempted response. "Just be quiet and stick to the plan. I don't want them to realize I'm here, until the time is right." He then waved his wand, whispering a brief incantation and faded in the shadows, only visible if you knew where to look and waited as the Gryffindors noisily approached.
TBC
Ok . . . as usual, if you've left me your email, then I've added you to my mailing list for this story, so you get a happy little email each & every time I update, if you didn't get one, well obviously I don't have your email or I missed it somehow. If you review this chapter & leave your email in the review or I can get it off your profile, I will gladly add you. And don't forget . . . Reviewing is Good Karma! So please, read, enjoy & if you didn't hate this chapter then please review ;)
Ok, if you've gotten down here & are still confused about the promised lemon that was the last chapter, go back up & read the beginning AN (I stuck there, figuring anyone who missed would want to read, before this chapter . . . oh, well. ;) Anyway, have fun reading, and remember – reviewing stories makes for happy writers.