AN: I would have actually gotten it up sooner, if my mouse hadn't stopped working. My space bar is still being temperamental, but I'm trying to go back and fix those mistakes. Please excuse me if there are any I missed.
~*~*~**~*~*~
Shaylee was talking to Flynn at the High Table when she saw Severus walk in and make a beeline for Draco and Hermione. "Oh, no he won't..." Shaylee said, standing up and keeping her eyes on him. She tugged on Flynn's arm. "Come on, we're going on a field trip."
"Er... OK?" Flynn said as he allowed himself to be dragged to catch up with Professor Snape.
Severus looked at Shaylee immediately. "No."
"But Sevvy!"
"No. That ass will be delighted to torment you after what happened."
"But Flynn has never met a rich asshole before. You don't want him to miss out on that! He needs to meet Lucius!"
"Actually I--" Shaylee clamped a hand over her brother's mouth while grinning innocently at Severus.
He groaned. "OK, Flynn may come. But, you're staying right here, Shaylee."
"But nothing's ever happened before."
"Well, that's because I was with you."
"Woah, wait! Is this guy violent?" Flynn asked, stopping their argument.
Shaylee shrugged her shoulders, trying to minimize the situation, while Severus nodded. "Very much so."
"You're staying right here, Shay."
Shaylee's mouth fell open. "WHAT?!"
"You're staying right here. You're my only decent sibling, and I want to keep you."
"You can't tell me what to do!" Shaylee challenged.
"Oh yes I can! As your older brother, I will not let you knowingly go into danger like that!"
"But... But..." Shaylee sputtered.
"No," both Severus and Flynn said together.
She snuck a glance at the Gryffindor table. "Well, too bad he's already gone..."
"What?!" Severus whipped around to see Hermione talking to Harry, Ron and Scott across from an empty seat that Draco had been sitting in just seconds before.
"Oh, shit..." Without another word, he ran off.
Shaylee grinned at Flynn expectantly. "Well, come on!" She grabbed her brother's hand and followed Snape's path.
~*~*~**~*~*~
Draco walked in the Common Room and, without a word to his father, sat down on a chair.
"Hello, father," he finally said cooly.
"Good morning, Draco," Lucius responded.
"You wished to see me?"
"Yes. The Dark Lord is getting restless. We need to carry out the last part of the plan.
Draco's heart started beating faster. This was it.
"And that would be?"
"Invite the Mudblood to Christmas at the Manor. We'll get her in the Lord's Den after New Years when she feels comfortable there. That's when we'll hand her over."
Repulsion pulsed through Draco as he heard his father's evilness.
"There are a couple of holes," Draco commented lightly, not wanting his father to blow up. "Oh, really?"
"Yes. How exactly am I supposed to convince her to come with me when she knows how much against her kind you are?"
If it was possible for Lucius to roll his eyes, that would be what he was doing. "For Merlin's sake, boy! You're smart. Figure something out. Say I had a change of heart. Say I'm letting her visit because you're 'madly in love'. Say I'm not going to be home for Christmas. I'll even stay in my wing of the manor the whole time. I don't care! Just figure something out!"
"OK..." Draco racked his brain for another question that could stop his father's plan for his vacation.
"So, afterwards, she will obviously not be coming back to school with me. What will I tell everyone?"
Lucius grinned devilishly. Evidently, he had already thought of that.
"Ah, yes... She was kidnapped by unknown villians when you two were walking outside of the grounds one day," he said simply.
Draco raised his eyebrows at this. His father was usually much better at coming up with stories like this.
"You," his father continued, with a sinister grin on his face, "were visibly hurt trying to protect her."
"Ah..." Draco understood now. He'd be beaten before coming back to Hogwarts, giving the appearance that he'd been through a bad fight.
"Well, if that is all, I should be going. No doubt, the idiots supposed to be keeping an eye on you will be here soon." Lucius stood up. "Have a good day, Draco."
Draco nodded and his father abruptly turned to walk out the door. As soon as Lucius was out the door, Draco fell down on the couch, his eyes closed. He couldn't let this happen to Hermione. He had to think of something.
~*~*~**~*~*~
Shaylee stopped abruptly as she ran into a halted Severus, pulling Flynn into the pile-up.
She peeked around Severus' shoulder to see why he was standing still, and saw Lucius Malfoy.
Lucius chuckled.
"I must say that I am not impressed with your poor attempts at supervising my son. Surely you do not let the rest of your students escape your management, as Draco does?"
Shaylee stood up to her full height and stepped out from behind Severus.
"Good morning, Lucius," she said, grinning smoothly.
The smirk on Lucius' face faded slightly as he noticed the smile on
Shaylee's. His cocky air returned to him as he laid eyes upon Flynn.
"Oh... I assume you're Ms. Weasley's brother, here to console her in these hard times..."
Severus stepped in front of the two Weasley's. "Go stick you head up your arse, Malfoy," he said dangerously, fingering his wand.
Lucius smirked. "How trivial, Severus."
"Sevvy, I can handle this," Shaylee said, stepping out from behind him once again.
A corner of Lucius' mouth turned up. "So there are pet names now? How... cute." Severus glared daggers at him and was about to say something when Lucius turned back to Flynn.
"I've heard about you by the way. Your father and you didn't get along very well, did you?"
Flynn didn't say anything, though there was a look on his face that showed that he knew what was coming and had heard it many times before.
Lucius got closer to him. "Yes, he was very disappointed in you..." There was a cruel look on his face, but Flynn just looked at him straight in the eyes, silently. He looked exasperated, as if he had grown tired of hearing the exact same criticism every time.
"Personally, I agree with him. You're completely disgus--" Without any warning, Shaylee's wand was pointed in his face.
Shaylee shuddered slightly as Lucius looked straight in her eyes coldly. He stepped forward so that he was right beside her and only she could hear him. "Protective, aren't we? Too bad you weren't there for your father when he needed you."
Lucius looked up at Severus then. "You're getting a little too confident, Snape. I'd watch my back if I were you."
Without another word, he turned on his heel and left the hallway.
~*~*~**~*~*~
Draco sat in the Library, waiting for Hermione. He had asked her to meet him there after classes ended. He had to talk to her about his father's plan and what they were going to do about it.
A bookbag was tossed on the chair at his table and he looked up to see Hermione sitting down across from him. "Hey, Draco," she greeted, then paused, noticing the worried look on his face. "Draco?... Is everything OK? What's wrong?"
Draco sighed, then began to tell her everything that had occured that morning with his father. When he finished, there was a troubled look on her face.
"So," she started hesitantly, her voice shaking slightly. "So, he would just beat you like that? Just so people would believe something he said? Just to please his master?" Her voice was getting louder. "What kind of father would do that?"
They were starting to draw curious glances from other tables. Draco reached across the table for her hand. "Hermione... Shh..." he said reassuringly. "Don't worry about it... It's not that big of a deal..."
Hermione looked away momentarily to wipe her eyes, then looked back at him. "Has he ever done that to you?" Draco's silence answered her for him. "This is ridiculous. He's never going to hurt you like that ever again. I'm going to your house for Christmas, and we're going to think of a plan to end this."
Draco looked into Hermione's eyes, expecting to see sadness and pity. He saw these, but he also saw love.
~*~*~**~*~*~
Awww... How sweet... and.... corny. ^_^ R/R please. I'll try to get started on the next chapter before the weekend ends, so that it won't take too long for it to come up. Thanks to my lovely reviewers! R/R!!!
Crazy Courtney: LOL. How exactly did you take it? Cuz if you
say that you took it the wrong way, you may have taken it the way I meant
it to be taken... ^_^ I dunno tho..
xXxEmeraldxXx: Thanks!
Heather Malfoy: Heehee! Thanks for being nice! ^_^
black night: lol. I'll take that as a compliment.
Guishi (36): LOL... Meanie
Guishi (35): I'm not gonna do that! ^_^
Cute-Kitty: Hehe! Understood.
Genevieve Jones: LOL. OK, I'll keep him. Well, that is to say...
I won't kill him. ^_^
Draco-Malfoy-Severus- Luva: OK, remember in one of the chapters
at the Ball when Shay was talking about her 2 older brothers? Well, I'm
making the oldest brother out to be a total jerk. He's taking control of
all the funeral arrangements and stuff. That's basically what's happening...
Flynn just came to see Shaylee after he heard about their dad.
redwicca: There are only actually a couple of main points left
in this fic, basically. If Shaylee dated someone else, it's be Scott, which
is why Sevvy doesn't like it when they talk at all. And, I'll definitely
tell you when I come out with the sequel.
Mystic Snow: What exactly are you confused on? Is Donnelly the
person you're talking about? Cuz he's Shaylee's and Flynn's older brother.
It says that a bit before they talk about the memorial service.
x0xbabyx0x4u2c: Sorry if I took a long time. ^_^
Silbara: LOL... Wow... I thought I was crazy... Yeah,
that's OK... I'm sure you liked it if you stared at it that long... ^_^
Chance: LOL... Actually, I already had a hunch that that'd be
the case... I just didn't know what kinds of tactics would be used if he
was under the water for that amount of time. Thanks tho! ^_^
Kelli Granger: Thanks bunches!
Samantha-Carlyn: LOL. Thanks a lot! Hehe, I know. I love square
dancing!
starlover11: ^_^ Thanks!
Spunx182: LOL... Well, it's a word... But not in the way you
mean... ^_^ Thanks for reviewing!
AdGe: Thanks a bunch. I try! ^_~
Cherry Blossom Rachel Granger: Wow... Someone said something
good about my cliffies... ^_^
LE: ^_^ Heehee!!! Yay! ^_~ Thanks!
crazyone17: What kind of evil person would I be if I told you
that? ^_^ Hehe. I'll try to put more in, tho my major book reference is
Phantom of the Opera, for reasons revealed later... ^_^
Theoretically Insane: LOL. That's OK. Hehe... My grade in Algebra
is going up slightly, so I should be OK soon. ^_^
Meg: You'll have to wait and see! Sorry! ^_~ Thanks for reviewing!
Kat Davi: Oooooo... I hate it when that happens, except for
I usually forgetit at home, so I'm mad when I can't write instead of doing
homework.... ^_^ Oh yes... Insane people are awesome. Everyone thinks that
my friends and I need a psychiatrist... My best friend and I almost got
sent to the counselor for "help" once... Hehe... ^_~ Thanks for reviewing!
Lizzie Malfoy: LOL... What I meant is that everyone will eventually
die... I mean, I'll eventually die. So will you. And, even though it isn't
entirely real, so will Hermione and Harry, and everyone else. ^_^ Hehe.
Sorry I confused you! ^_^
tomzgurl77: Ooooo... I might make it appear angsty at times,
but I won't actually make it too bad... ^_^ Thanks for reading!
x.Green.x: LOL. Thanks! ^_~ Poor Sevvy... I think he has a jealousy
complex... ^_^
foodiholic: Heehee! Ooops. Sorry.... ^_^ Well, just in case...
I'll tell my sister to make sure everyone finds out if I actually die...
^_^
kaleigh aka Narwa: LOL. Yeah, you told me. You sound extremely
hyper... Almost scary, really. Oooo! I wanna be hyper too!! Sounds like
fun!!! ^_^ Thanks for reading!
Lyra Silvertongue2: ^_^ Thanks so much! I tried to make that
scene go well... ^_^ Thanks for reading and reviewing!
emster: Ahhh.... The power of vacations.... ^_^ I get a lot
more time to write then! Even though my evil Algebra teacher still gives
me homework... Grrrrrr...
Fantasy Is My Life 1: MUAAHAHAHA!! Hehe... Sorry... I was actually
going for that... ^_^ Oh, and yes, Marching Band just ended, however, now
I have Pep Band. This is because I live in Indiana, where people are obsessed
with Basketball... Grrr... Stupid Hoosiers.
