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 ;) And of course, any typos & grammatical errors are, as usual, my fault . . . sorry. Sorry for the delay in this chapter, I was having technical difficulties. I know a lot of you have been asking for the lemon chapter, I have it posted it up in LJ (lifejournal, for those of you who don't have one) and immediately after posting this, I will be listing that link as my home page to make things easier for all of you. Anyway, such a long AN – I'm sorry, let's get back into the story .
Chapter 34 – Glutton For Punishment
Ron looked over at Harry brooding away and loudly sighed, but his frustration went largely unnoticed in the Great Hall. Harry would always be his best friend, but damn, when he got like this, well Ron just didn't quite know what to do about him. As much he hated to admit it, the only person who was ever really able to pull him out of one of these moods was Hermione, but considering the current situation, the red-head knew this would take more than the usual swallowing his pride. Not only would he have to get past Malfoy, but with everything that had been going on, this might require serious groveling and even that wouldn't guarantee that she'd help. Thinking about all this was giving him a bloody headache, how was anyone supposed to eat under these circumstances?
On top of everything else, he and Sirius still hadn't gotten any information of whatever scheme Harry was cooking up with Pansy and that deatheater git, which only meant that he was deliberately keeping it from them because he knew they wouldn't approve. Taking into consideration both Gryffindor's reputations for playing fast and loose with the rules and their unquestionable loyalty to Harry that was something to be worried about. Ever since his legimancy training, getting anything out of Harry that he didn't want you to know was nearly impossible. Overall, Ron decided that this entire situation was just going to hell and giving him indigestion.
Between Malfoy and the way Harry's been acting lately, talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Ron honestly didn't want to deal with either one, but didn't see any other way. Trying to subtly glance at the Slytherin table without being blatantly obvious, he saw Hermione sitting next to Malfoy off by themselves at the end of the table, seemingly in their own little world. But judging by the amused expression on Malfoy's face before he whispered something in Hermione's ear, he failed miserably. Quickly turning back to his more than half full plate of food, he caught a derisive smirk or two from his tablemates. Harry laughed next to him, an ugly and cynical sound, "Don't tell me that you're mooning after the ferret now too, are you?"
Ron nearly choked on his bite of toast. "Wha-"
"Don't play innocent with me. I saw you watching them. Either you're with me and against him, or you're not."
"Harry!" Ron hissed, trying to keep his voice to a low whisper, "Are you out of your bleedin' mind, mate? Of course, I'm on your side."
"Yeah right, that's what I thought about Hermione until she betrayed me." Harry suddenly got into his face, mere inches away. "Don't even think about making the same mistake, Weasley," he punctuated his words by abruptly stalking out of the room.
Ron stared at his retreating figure, shrugging off the questioning expressions of a table full of confused Gryffindors. After a few minutes, he noticed out the corner of his eye, Hermione and Malfoy making a quiet exit and after a few seconds, he quickly followed them. Darting out into the hallway, he couldn't see them and stopped dead as a wand suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. "Is there any particular reason that you're following us, Weasel or are you just that much of a glutton for punishment?" Ron winced as he recognized Malfoy's crisp tones and slowly turned to face the Slytherin, his arm casually slung around his girlfriend's shoulders.
"Draco," Hermione reproved him in a softly amused voice, "that's laying it on a bit thick, even for you, isn't? Let's at least hear him out."
"Umm . . " Ron stuttered out, wishing he had thought this idea a little more though.
"Get to the point, Weasel, we don't have all day to listen to your babbling, you know."
"Umm . . . Hermione, would it be possible for me to speak to you, privately?"
Draco's eyes narrowed slightly at the hesitant request. Considering the way the red head had been staring first at Potter and then at them, specifically Hermione, he had fairly good guess what this might be about and he didn't want her anywhere near either Gryffindor. Giving her a quick sidelong glance, he saw her purse her lips briefly as if in thought before she opened her mouth to respond, so he abruptly cut her off. "Think again, Weasel, whatever you want to say to Hermione, you can damn well say in front of me or you can go bother someone else."
"Draco, " she began.
"No, I don't trust the smarmy bastard any more than I can throw him, Hermione and this is non-negotiable." His voice was harsh, mainly for Weasley's benefit and he lightly squeezed her shoulder to let her know that while his anger wasn't directed towards her, he was serious.
Sighing, she shook her head for a moment, telling him silently that while she would go along this for now, she didn't appreciate his high-handedness. Sometimes Draco was over-protective to the point where she wanted to strangle him, it just so happened that this particular time it turned out to be convenient. She was never Ron's favorite person, unless she could do him a favor and considering everything that had been happening lately, she was more than a bit apprehensive. "What do you need, Ron?" She asked, already tired of the conversation.
"Well . . ." He winced, wishing Malfoy would for once just sod off. It was hard enough asking Hermione, convincing her would be even more difficult, but having to do it in front of that damned git was nearly impossible. "I was just wondering, if you'd be willing to talk to Harry, because he won't listen to me at all and . . . dammit, Hermione, you were always better at getting him to do what is best for him. When it comes to someone telling him when something is stupid and dangerous, you know that you're the only one that he ever listened to."
"Not a chance in hell, Weasel!" Draco exploded, taking a half a step towards the other man threateningly. "Whatever reckless stupidity Potter is involved in, he got himself into it and he can damn well get himself out of. If you think, I'm going to stand by while you drag Hermione down with you two, then you're stupider than I ever thought."
"Let her speak for herself, you bastard!" Ron retorted, his hand going for his wand. "Come on Hermione, you're not just going to abandon Harry now, are you? Just tell Malfoy to fuck off and then you can talk to Harry and everything will go back to normal." Focusing his attention on the witch, he missed Draco's smirk as he twisted his wrist, revealing the wand still in his hand.
Seeing both of their wands, Hermione knew the situation was mere moments from escalating into an outright duel She quickly stepped between the two would-be-combatants, her arms thrust out, warding both of them off. "Would you two, for Merlin's sake, please put your wands away?" She hissed angrily, glaring at each of them in turn. After a few seconds, they both complied, Ron with a somewhat sheepish expression, whereas Draco just arched an eyebrow sardonically. Rolling her eyes, she took a deep breath. "Can we pretend to be civilized for just one minute, before we start throwing hexes and curses about?"
"Hmmm, I don't know, Hermione. Is it possibly for a Weasel to pretend to be civilized?" Draco asked mockingly, ignoring the red head who was frustrated to the point where he was nearly snarling.
"Do me a favor, Draco – shut up, ok?" She bit off, no longer in any mood to play this little game. Turning back to Ron, who was torn between giving her imploring glances and hate-filled stares directed towards Draco. "Ron, eyes back over here, hmm?" She waited until he was facing her again, before she continued. "Ok, before I promise to do anything, Ron, you've got to explain what the hell you're talking about. What has Harry gotten himself into now?"
"In front of him?" Ron scoffed. "So that's it, Hermione? You're just going to take his side," he gestured wildly towards Draco, "and who the fuck cares about what happens to Harry, huh? You really are an absolutely useless bint, aren't you?" He missed the expression that crossed Draco's face as the Slytherin's wand hand reflexively tightened into a fist. "I don't even know why I bothered to think you might help." He shook his head, before he turned to stalk off.
"Well that went well, don't you think?" Draco murmured in her ear, fighting the impulse to launch himself at the Gryffindors back, instead choosing to lean down slightly and brush a kiss against her temple.
She half spun around, abruptly shoving him away from her. "Dammit, Draco. You just had to go and deliberately provoke him, didn't you?"
Walking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist, ignoring her attempts to resist him. "Hey, as far as I'm concerned, I was more than justified, given the way that discussion turned out."
She continued to fight him for a moment, more as a matter of pride than any desire to break free of his grasp, before she relaxed, leaning back into his embrace. "That's not the point and you know it. There was no reason for things to escalate like that."
"Hermione, you know as well as I do, exactly what that was all about." He derisively laughed. "He only came to you after exhausting all other options he could think of."
"He was reaching out to me –"
But he ruthlessly cut her off with the truth she preferred to ignore, "Not for your sake, Hermione. All he cared about, no," he quickly amended himself, "all he's ever cared about is Potter, not you love, and you deserve better than that. I'm not going to stand by and let either of those idiots use you, especially not when they want to drag you into something potentially dangerous. And asking me to do nothing when you endanger yourself is unreasonable. If I have to look out after you, because you refuse to, then I damn well will, consider it something to get used to."
Listening to him, she felt the last remnants of her anger at him fade away and while she wasn't happy the way things had turned out, it wasn't worth arguing with him over. She almost wished that she could say that Ron's ending tirade had been unexpected, but although she had been hurt, it wasn't exactly unexpected. That at least was one true thing that he had hinted at, she had always been closer to Harry than Ron, mainly because Ron could be such an ass, not to mention self-righteous. But lately, despite all the history between the three of them, she honestly wondered if she had ever really knew either one of them, because while she had changed in her time at Hogwarts, the two of them were like different people. People that of her own accord, she wouldn't want anything to do with if she had met them today, instead of so many years ago. "Still, wouldn't it have been good to know what Harry was up to, if he is in trouble?"
"He's old enough to take care of himself, Hermione. Are you going to bail him out for the rest of his life?" He lightly squeezed, resting his chin on the top of her head. Behind them, they could hear the fading sounds of breakfast ending, which meant that they would soon be surrounded by a rush of exiting students. Stepping back from her, he let his arms fall away and offered her his hand. She looked at him for a moment, before smiling slightly as she took his hand and they walked off down the hall.
Harry studiously avoiding Ron's questioning looks as he focused his all of his attention on Draco's and Hermione's tables. All he need now was to find an opportunity, but the way Draco was throwing him an occasional wary stare, it was looking more like he was going to have to make one. The hard part was going to be Hermione. First he was going to convince her to talk to him, then make sure Draco knew about it and lastly he was going to have to disable in her some way so she wouldn't interfere, when everything went down with Gage. Not the easiest of tasks, but something he was now committed to doing.
Every second he saw them together, his anger smoldered higher and having to watch that bastard put his filthy hands on her, just stoked the flames of his temper. If he didn't take care of this soon, he might strangle Malfoy himself, the killing curse seemed to be more than the Slytherin deserved. Harry abruptly hissed, one hand suddenly rose to clamp against his forehead, covering his scar as it burned, ignoring one or two startled glances around him. He knew what that meant, Voldemorte was plotting something and that thought led him back to Gage and Draco. The more he thought about it, the pain faded, almost converting itself into a primal rage to see Malfoy dead at his feet. His hand slowly lowered to rest against the table, fingers tightly curling into a white-knuckled fist.
From over his shoulder, Draco could feel his skin crawling. It was an odd sensation, but not one that he was completely unfamiliar with. Subtly lowering his head, his bangs falling in front of his eyes, he glanced over his shoulder, pinpointing the source. Two tables back on the left, Potter glared at him maliciously. His fingers tightened on his wand as he unobtrusively waved in a tightly control, barely noticeably motion, whispering, "Revelre Seele(1)," and was nearly knocked back by the force of the virulent hatred radiating off Potter, his aura was almost entirely black. Waving his wand again, he dropped the spell and wrapped his other arm around Hermione's shoulders as he lifted his head to smirk at the infuriated Gryffindor.
Turning back to give her a slight smile, he pretended to pay attention to Snape's lecture, while his mind was focused on trying to decipher exactly what he had just seen. Something was dangerously wrong, because even for Potter in a fit of anger, his aura shouldn't have been pitch black. It was obvious to Draco that the idiot was under the influence of some dark magic spell, but which one, cast by whom and why? Whoever cast the spell knew what they were doing, since apparently no one else, even 'Saint Potter' seemed to be aware of it. None of his housemates would be capable of casting something on this level, nor would they be able to keep their mouths shut about it either and he couldn't imagine anyone else hating the Gryffindor enough to try anything.
Despite his certainty about that, he glanced around the classroom to see if anyone was acting strangely. Most everyone was either paying attention to Snape or trying not to fall asleep. Pansy, on the other was studiously avoiding looking anywhere near his direction, so she might be up to something, but he seriously doubted her ability to pull this off. And Snape seemed to be trying to catch his eye for some reason. If anyone might be able to tell him what was wrong with Potter, it would be the potions master, being most familiar with the dark arts. As much as he hated to help Potter in any way, considering the fact that Potter seemed to focused on him and Hermione, it might be in his best interest to let someone else figure out what the fuck was wrong with him.
Sighing, Draco decided to talk to Snape after class. Aside from his familiarity with the dark arts, other than Hermione he was the only person, the blonde even vaguely trusted and there was no way in hell that he was taking this to her. Despite the recent actions of the two Gryffindors, there was still a significant amount of history between them and he could see Hermione rushing to his side if she got wind of any sort of dark arts spell being cast on her once best friend. Merlin only knew what Potter would do in that situation, but Draco could guess. After all if he found himself in that position, then would totally use it to his advantage and blame his rival, he didn't see Potter being able to resist the opportunity. And that was something that he'd prefer to avoid having to deal with because anything could happen at that point.
Just before class ended, Draco whispered in her ear that he had to take care of something with Snape and that he'd meet her after classes in the library with some goodies snagged from the kitchen. Turning back towards Snape, he motioned towards Potter with a quick jerk of his head and was satisfied when Snape gave him a slight nod of understanding. While everyone rose to leave, Draco took his time gathering his supplies. Hermione brushed his arm as she made her way out of the classroom and Draco tensed as he saw Potter start to follow, only relaxing when Snape called him over. Lagging behind, he saw her make a clean exit and he finally stood up with a smirk on his face as Potter roughly pushed past him.
"Fifteen points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter. Perhaps that will remind you to make it to your next class without any further temper tantrums."
Draco's smirk widened as he walked down the aisle. "One can only hope, of course, but that might be beyond Saint Potter's capabilities."
Arching an eyebrow, Snape stared him down until his smug expression faded slightly. Although he did want to talk to the boy, between the latest information about Gage and Dumbledore's revelation to Miss Granger, he wasn't entirely sure of where to even begin. He certainly hadn't expected that young Slytherin would have approached him, which made him wonder if there yet another dangerous secret about to be exposed. "As requested, I detained Mr Potter, I expect that you had a valid reason for my doing so?"
His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, but over his lifetime Draco Malfoy has had some of the most dangerous wizards known alive attempt to intimidate him, so it was going to take more than just an arched eyebrow and a leading question to shake him. He did, however, successfully resist the impulse to roll his eyes. "Don't I always?" Not waiting for a response, he quickly elaborated. "Not like you'd need much of a reason, but something is up with Potter, something more serious than his usual bout of histrionics."
"Draco, is this something you're involved in?" Snape bit out, his thumb and forefinger rubbing the bridge of his nose.
Smoothly sitting down on a table behind him, Draco adroitly covered his reaction to the unexpected accusation, unsure whether he should feel insulted or bitter, ignoring the slight tinge of hurt. He sarcastically retorted, "Give me a little bit of credit, why don't you? If I had cursed the bastard the last thing I would ever do, would be to admit to it, let alone actually report it. I simply thought that someone might care to do something about it. Never mind, I don't even know why I bothered." He scoffed, abruptly rising to his feet and turning to walk away.
Snape winced, realizing too late that he had chosen the entirely wrong tack to take. "Draco, come back. We are hardly finished with our conversation." The potions master watched as he stopped in a half-turn and warily tilted his head back, blonde hair falling across his face in what was a deliberately obvious attempt at concealment. At times trying to talk to younger Malfoy was exhausting and more effort then it was worth, but if there was something truly wrong with 'the boy who lived,' both Dumbledore and the order would have to be informed. "You have to admit that under the circumstances, it is a reasonable question. After all, it isn't exactly as if looking out for Potter's welfare often falls under your usual activities."
"Now you are insulting me!" Draco coldly responded, refusing to move from his position. "You know I don't give a damn about 'Potter's bloody welfare,'" he nearly spat out the words, "normally, I'd applaud the person. But the way Potter's going, it may very well wind up interfering in my life and that is simply unacceptable."
Not the exactly the response he was hoping for, but knowing that is was the best he was going to get at this point, Snape asked in a more conversational tone, "And what makes you suspect a dark arts spell?"
"Oh come on. Aren't you the professor who has been trying to get the DA position for how many years now? At least now we know why Dumbledore keeps refusing you." Draco watched the older man stiffen, before he sniggered, enjoying his moment. Smirking, he continued, "I would think it would be more than obvious the way he's been acting. I suspected something and cast Revelre Seele to be sure and it's more than obvious to anyone with the eyes to see."
Accepting the vindictive jab for what it was, Snape forced himself control his temper. Reflecting back on Potter's behavior during class and in their brief conversation, he could see the possible rationale in his argument. Hearing Draco's casually thrown out declaration that he used the Revelre Seele spell was a surprise, although at this point in his relationship with young Slytherin, he wondered why he bothered. The boy's vast knowledge and experience with obscure dark arts spells never failed to both disturb and amaze him. Looking at the blonde, who would guess that he had been raised not only studying and practicing such magics, but Snape was fairly sure that he had also considerable first hand experience of the effects. Lucius had a lot to answer for and before this war was over, Snape personally intended to see that the man got all that was coming to him.
"Very well, Draco, I trust your judgment and assure you that the matter will be looked into." Snape paused for a moment, because there was so much more he wanted to discuss with his student, but given the way the conversation had gone thus far, he doubted that Draco would be willing to divulge any further information to him. Worse yet, he might put him on the defensive to the point where the subjects might be closed for good. If nothing else, he had learned that Draco's trust was both a fragile and rare thing, it had taken him years to earn the limited portion that he commanded. "Is there anything else you want to talk about?" His eyes narrowed as he stared at Draco, hoping he'd respond.
Draco met his eyes head on, "Not that I can think of at the moment. Why?" The unspoken rest of his question, 'what do you know?' was left hanging heavily in the chilled room.
Ok, if that's how he wants to play it . . . "No reason in particular." Draco arched an eyebrow sardonically at the equally uninformative answer. Nodding his head slightly he turned and began walking out of the room.
Just before he reached the door, Snape spoke, his voice low but reaching across the room. "Draco, you wouldn't have happened to have seen Gage lately?" The blonde froze for a moment, but didn't turn around, which was more telling than not. "I only ask because I've been hearing interesting things about him lately."
"Oh really?" There was a faintly strained note in his voice, as if he was trying to sound noncommittal about that bit of information, but not entirely succeeding. A long silence fell between the two of them. Unseen by Snape, Draco's eyes fell shut for a few seconds. He knew very well that he was being baited and as much as hated to bite, the fact of the matter was that at this moment Snape's circle of information was wider than his. The potions master wouldn't idly drop that name unless he knew something important. "Like what?"
"Well for one, last week, he was found wandering around the wilds of Wales with an obliviated memory and his wand broken, but you wouldn't know anything about that, I'm sure."
Snape's ironic delivery seemed to strike a certain nerve as the younger man stiffened slightly under his close scrutiny, before quickly recovering. "Are you accusing me? Because even if I did know something, you of all people should hardly expect me to admit to it."
"No, Draco, I would never accuse you. On the contrary, if I knew who might left Gage in Wales, I'd be tempted to congratulate them, assuming I knew them, of course. Personally, I'm more interested in the fact that he somehow got onto Hogwarts grounds earlier this week."
"What?" Draco forgot about playing it cool and spun around in shock.
Snape gave a derisive laugh. "Yes, if nothing else, I thought that would have gotten your attention. He was seen in the Forbidden Forest in the company of Pansy Parkinson, among others."
"Don't try to play me, Snape. Who else did he meet?" Draco's voice was coldly angry.
Bristling slightly under the demand, Snape's eyes narrowed, but he managed to keep his response mild enough. "Although we suspect that others were there, no one knows who else or what his purpose was. As far as we can tell, he held a meeting, then left through the forest and dissapparated once he was off the grounds."
"Fan-fucking-tastic . . . " He cursed, running a rough hand through blonde hair, revealing for the first time, the agitation visible in his grey eyes. "I thought you and Dumbledore were supposed to keep murdering deatheater bastards out of Hogwarts!"
Snape flinched slightly under the brunt of accusation. "Well, no one is completely infallible and technically he did only get as far as the forest."
"Oh don't give me that technical shit. You fucked up and you know it." Squeezing his eyes shut, Draco turned to walk off, but was jerked to a full stop when Snape grabbed his arm.
"Don't do it, Draco. I understand why you'd want to go after her, but I can't let you."
"And what? Am I supposed to wait for him and that bitch to come after me? If nothing else, you should know me better than that." His voice was coldly precise, each word crisply enunciated.
Sighing deeply, Snape pulled a vial out of his pocket and placed it carefully into Draco's hand, before curling stiff fingers around it. "I cannot condone anything you might do with the Versium, not will I admit giving this to you and I fully expect you to cover your tracks if you were to use it, but under the circumstances it is best alternative to what you might have had in mind."
Draco turned back, giving him a smirk. Glancing at the vial, he slipped it into his pocket. "Don't worry, I know exactly what to do with it." Nodding slightly, he quickly left the room.
Sitting down heavily, Snape pinched the bridge of his nose. Giving students vials of potions to use on their classmates violated most of the oaths he swore when he took this position, but giving the reality that Draco might have resorted to even less ethical tactics, a dosage of Versium was infinitely preferable. Hopefully Draco was as smart as he hoped, otherwise this was going to take some very creative explaining if this got back to Dumbledore.
1. Revelre Seele – my own creation, Revelre (Old French, derived from the Latin revelo – to unveil or lay bare) and Seele (German for soul).
TBC
For those who may skipped the opening note, the lemon chapter is available on my LJ (lifejournal) and I'm making the link my homepage on my user info to make everything easier for all of us.
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 ;) Unless you're a writer, you will never understand how inspiring your reviews really are to someone like me., they keep me going even when I get stuck like I did with this chapter, so thanks :D