Ok, ATTENTION PEOPLE! I'm so so so sorry for taking sooooo long to post a new chapter, but things are getting really hectic for me. And our computer crashed (finally…I knew something was wrong with it…) and my dad has been on it 24/7 trying to fix it. And then my dog had to go get surgery done, so we've been busy with that. Plus school is really tough this year. Aaaaand, I'm very sad to say that I won't be able to update this until the end of November. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't know, that's National Novel Writing Month. That means that I have to write a 50,000 word novel starting Nov. 1 – Nov. 30. So pretty much in my spare time, I'll be working on writing that. To give you an idea of how long something 50,000 words is…this story so far (including this chapter) is 37, 943 words. And that's including all my author notes and review responses. If you want to check out my profile on the NaNoWriMo website, my username is L. E. M. And if by some miracle I update this during November, you'll know that I have severe writers block on my other story. Oh, and I know the title of this chapter sucks (no pun intended), but you'll understand what it means when you read the chapter.
ILOVDRACO- Well, of course, I'm never going to say who it is, who it isn't, who it might be, and who it might not be. You'll just have to keep on reading. )
QueenThayet12990- Lol, I'm glad you liked the chapter. And yes, that's why it's called Partners. I'm surprised I was actually able to think of a title for the story, because that's usually the hardest part for me…naming things.
Torri-Chiobie- suicidal? What do you mean by your new penname? I hope your not suicidal. Thanks for reviewing.
dragonlayer- Haha, yep. She's going to trick him. At least…that's the plan for now…
melanctha- Well, I'm super glad that you like the story. As I've said before, I try really hard to make it as real and close to the books as possible, but sometimes it's just difficult. Thank you so much for the review.
Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own anything to do with HP.
Chapter 11: Sucking Bleaters
The castle still buzzed about the disappearance of Trent Johnson. So far, nobody had seen or heard anything of him. The teachers searched the castle high and low after their classes, and occasionally students were found looking as well. It had been almost a week since his disappearance. Dumbledore had owled Trent's parents, and they showed up at Hogwarts the next morning. Draco, as he was walking down the staircase, saw them being led by Professor McGonagall to the Headmaster's office. Trent's mother, a small lady with long, dark hair, had puffy eyes, and her husband's arm was around her shoulder. Draco shook his head.
He thought back to his meeting with Ginny. So they were now partners, working together. Draco hated it; however, he saw no other way to clear his name. The whole school seemed to believe that he was responsible for the disappearances, even some of the teachers. None of them would openly say or show anything to prove that, but he would see them whispering in the halls. McGonagall even seemed more irritated than usual with him; Draco was constantly having house points taken away from him.
After Draco had gotten out of the tunnel that night, he had waited in the shadows. Shortly, Ginny and Filch had come out and gone their separate ways. Ginny had been fuming, and Draco smirked. I bet now she wishes she had come with me, Draco thought. She must be in loads of trouble.
That afternoon, as soon as Draco finished with his classes, he went up to his room. He couldn't stand everybody glaring at him. He set his books down and rested against the wall, folding his arms.
Tap tap tap.
Draco jerked his head up.
Tap tap tap.
He looked toward his window, where there was an owl hovering outside. He sighed when he recognized it as one of the school's barn owls. That meant it wasn't from his father. He opened the window and the owl swooped in, dropped the letter on Draco's bed, and flew back out. Draco opened his letter.
Malfoy,
Meet me again in the Astrology tower. Same time. We need to talk.
-Ginny
Draco shrugged his shoulders and tossed aside the letter. Talk? What did that mean?
That night, Draco climbed once more up the stairs to the Astrology tower. He had already dodged Filch once on the way; the man had been snooping around in a classroom, but Mrs. Norris hadn't been with him. When he reached the door to the room where Ginny would be waiting, he saw a flicker of light seeping under the crack. Pushing the door open, he saw that Ginny was pacing back and forth across the room, an angry look on her face. She stopped when she saw Draco.
"You," Ginny said as she strode towards Draco and pointed at him accusingly. "You- you…" she sputtered, trying to find the right words. "You…"
"Yes. Me, Weasley," Draco said irritated. "What do you want?"
"Last night…you shouldn't have left! Filch now thinks I'm the one who's hiding Trent Johnson! Me! I know he suspects me!"
"Well that's alright, then, isn't it? Draco smirked lazily, taking a seat at the desk.
"No!" shrieked Ginny. "I'm probably going to get in trouble for that, eventually. You shouldn't have left, because then he would suspect you."
Draco gave her a weird look. "Oh, and that would've been better? Do you know what people would say if they found a Malfoy and a Weasley down in that tunnel? Alone? At midnight? And not killing each other? Then you'd see trouble."
Ginny looked down at her feet, and flopped into a chair. "I suppose," she said quietly. "But if Filch tells everybody I was down there, then they'll all wonder what I was doing. Ron will know he didn't ask me to go there. They'll start thinking that I…" she trailed off, eyes wide.
"Welcome to my life," Draco said sarcastically, and Ginny frowned at him. "Look, Weasley, you don't have anything to worry about. Nobody is going to think it's you. I mean, it's you we're talking about. Who would suspect Ginny Weasley of kidnapping two muggle-borns?" Draco leaned back in his chair. "Now, me, on the other hand…" he smirked, "well, everybody would suspect me. They already do."
"You're right…for once," Ginny said. "Everybody suspects a Malfoy of doing this."
"Do you?" Malfoy asked quickly. Ginny glanced sharply at him.
"Suspect you?" Ginny looked away and paused for a moment. "I wouldn't be here if I did, would I?"
Draco inspected her. Her eyes darted up once, but when she saw him looking at her, she glanced away. Was she telling the truth? Did someone really believe he was innocent? Draco thought it doubtful; besides, a Weasley would be the last person to believe him innocent. So why was she here? Draco shook his head and let the matter go.
"So what do you want, then?" he asked. "In your letter, you said you wanted to talk."
"Well, mainly I just wanted to yell at you for leaving," Ginny mused, stretching her arms lazily. "But I suppose we should make plans, shouldn't we?" Draco nodded, and both fell into silence.
"We didn't find anything down there," Draco articulated, and Ginny coughed.
"Stating the obvious, aren't you?" she smirked up at him.
"Shut up, Weasley," Draco scowled. "I'm just thinking."
"You're thinking a little too loud," muttered Ginny.
"What was that?" Draco shot back.
"Oh, nothing," Ginny replied sweetly. "Nothing at all."
Draco gave her a dirty look. "Well, I don't think there's much we can do right now. Unless you feel like going back to that tunnel to look some more…?"
"No." Ginny stated firmly. "If we get caught down there again," she shuddered, "there's no telling how much trouble we'll be in. I think all we can do for now is keep our eyes and ears open. You know, watch for anything-"
"Eyes and ears open?" Draco sneered. "Do you know how corny that sounds?"
Ginny glared at him. "You know what I mean. We just need to watch out for anybody acting strangely, or anything out of place. That's all we can do. At least until Trent shows up. We have no clues to go by."
"Fine," yawned Draco, standing up. "If that's all, I'm going to bed. I've been wasting enough sleep lately." He started towards the door, but stopped when Ginny didn't move.
"You're staying?"
Ginny seemed to be lost in thought; she was staring into the fire with wide, tired eyes. "Hmm, oh – uh, yeah. I'm going to stay for a while," she mumbled, looking up at him. "You know, I have to sort through my thoughts and stuff."
Draco stared at her. The way the fire lit up her face astonished him; it made her skin appear golden. Her flaming red hair curled about her, accenting her exquisite features. She almost looks…Ugh, what am I saying? Draco mentally punched himself for what he had almost thought. I must be losing it.
"Whatever, Weasley," Draco snapped, and then he hurried out of the room, shutting the door behind him. The darkness wrapped around him, and he rested against the closed door, breathing softly. He closed his eyes and let the coolness overwhelm him. What had he been thinking back there? He slapped himself across the face. You're spending way too much time with her, that's all. You just need some sleep. I'll just treat her like the filth that she is from now on, and everything will be alright. Draco slapped himself once more, shook his head to clear his thoughts, and trotted down the empty hallways.
Ginny sat by the fire, biting her nails; Draco had just left.There was a feeling in the middle of her stomach, one she recognized. Guilt. At least, that's what she thought it was. How can you feel guilty for this, she thought. He's just a Malfoy. After all, he is the one who started it all. There's no reason for you to feel guilty. And why should you care about him anyway? He's just a Malfoy.
The next day, Draco trudged through the snow towards his Herbology class. Usually, he'd be walking with Crabbe and Goyle, but he had forgotten one of his books and had had to go back and get it. Now he was going to be late, yet he didn't really care.
Without warning, a rock-hard snowball slammed into his cheek, throwing him off balance and knocking him into the snow. His face stung, and he could feel a welt rising already. He looked up angrily and saw Ron and Harry, both laughing, high-five each other. Snarling, he stood up, packed together two snowballs, and hurled them at the two boys. Each snowball hit its mark, and both Harry and Ron looked shocked, but soon were scooping up more snow. Draco, with a fierce look on his face, did the same. Soon, he, Ron, and Harry were hurling snowballs at each other at an incredible rate. Most of the snowballs missed Draco because they were so far away.
Harry and Ron moved closer, and Draco leaped back, trying to dodge the snowballs. He was pelted in his stomach, arms, legs, and feet. He tried to scoop up more snow, but Harry and Ron, seeing that Draco was weakening, started throwing more snowballs. He threw his arms in front of his face as the snowballs kept attacking him. "Hey!" he shouted. "Wait-" a snowball popped him in the mouth, and he choked on the cold snow that fell down his throat. Harry and Ron smiled triumphantly at him. Simmering with anger, he packed together snow so hard that it turned into an ice ball. He whipped his arm back and lobbed it towards Ron. Whamming into the side of his face, it forced Ron to stumble backward. Then he started towards Draco angrily, but Harry pulled him back. He whispered something in his ear, and with a last glance at Draco, they walked off.
"Yeah, you better run!" Draco shouted after them. "Because I was just getting ready to kick your butts!" Everybody outside stared at Draco, and he made an ugly face at them. Well, that was…fun, he thought. We'll have to do that again sometime. He picked up his books and walked into the greenhouses.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy, I'm glad to see you finally decided to join us," Professor Sprout called to him. "I do not tolerate tardiness. Since you were late, you may join Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, who were also late, in a detention tonight. All three of you, report to Filch's office at eight tonight.
Groaning inwardly, Draco found a seat in the back near Crabbe and Goyle and slumped into it. Detention with Pothead, Weasel, and Filch? Nice.
That evening, Draco slowly walked towards Argus Filch's office. Tonight was going to be horrible, he knew it. Potter and Weasley were going to make sure he was miserable. No problem, I'll just make it miserable for them too.
When he reached the office, Harry and Ron were already there. They were sitting in front of Filch's desk with pained expressions on their face. They looked at Draco when he entered the room, and then they grimaced at each other.
"Finally," muttered Filch, rising from behind his desk. "Took your time getting here, didn't you? That is what you're here for in the first place…being late."
"Whatever," Draco said. Remaining standing, he folded his arms. "Are we going to get going with this detention or what?"
Filch glared at him, and then motioned to Harry and Ron.
"Up, come on, I already told you what you're going to be doing. Let's go."
"Where are we going?" Draco asked as Filch swept by him, followed reluctantly by Ron and Harry. "What are we doing?" Nobody answered him.
They progressed down the empty hallway and soon they were out of the castle and striding across the dark, wet grounds. They started walking towards the Forbidden Forest. Draco had a strange sense of déjà vu; yet, before they reached the forest, they turned towards Hagrid's hut. When they reached the door, Filch rapped twice.
"Yer here," Hagrid said, opening the door and smiling widely at them.
"Just make sure it gets done," Filch said menacingly, and then stalked back towards the castle. Draco stared after him uneasily.
"Crazy old coot…" Hagrid muttered. "Come in, come in. We've got work to do."
They entered Hagrid's house, and Draco wrinkled his nose. There was one very large, un-made bed in the corner, and a few articles of clothing were thrown carelessly over a giant chair. In the middle of the room was a large wooden table, and three buckets rested on top of it. A grungy smell was emanating throughout the room.
"You live here?" Draco sneered. "This place isn't even fit for our house-elves to live in."
Hagrid, Ron, and Harry all turned and glared threateningly at him, so Draco became silent, though he still observed the room with distaste. Hagrid waved them over to the table, where he sat down on a stool.
"We're going to be sorting through Sucking Bleaters tonight."
"What?" Harry, Ron, and Draco all asked at the same time.
"They are called Sucking Bleaters," Hagrid said as he reached into one of the containers and pulled out a small, thin, black thing that was about six inches long. He held on to a small portion of the creature, and the rest of it curled up, trying to reach Hagrid's hand; he dropped it back into the container before it could though. "They are very similar to the Muggle leach, except more…magical," he grinned at the students.
"But why are they called Sucking Bleaters?" Draco asked. He didn't like the way the creatures curled and uncurled. They didn't appear to have a head, either.
"Well, they attach onto something living, and they suck out their blood," Hagrid's eyes grew wide and his eyebrows disappeared in his bushy hair. It made him seem a bit deranged, and Draco had a distinct feeling that he was being made fun of. Harry and Ron snickered slightly. "When they're hungry, they start bleating…they sound just like a pig. 'Cept the thing is, only the females bleat. The males won' do it. What we're supposed to do tonight is sort the females from the males so they don't mate."
Draco looked at the bleaters wearily. They were getting restless, and almost all of them were curling around in the container, thrashing about hungrily.
"Sometimes, they'll get into the castle. Mostly though, they just hide," Hagrid glanced fondly at the creatures. "Fer some reason, Dumbledore don' want them in there. An' he definitely don' want them matin'."
"Right, so…Hagrid," Ron said uneasily. "How exactly are we going to separate them? They look a little…wicked. But not in a good way."
"It's simple, Ron," Hagrid replied. "All we have to do is wait for them to get hungry. They usually do around this time. Since the males and females all look alike, we have to wait until the females start bleatin' and then we can tell them apart." He tapped one of the empty buckets on the table. "We'll put the females in here and put the males-"
A loud squealing pierced the air, and Draco clapped his hands over his ears. The first noise was joined by a second and soon, the room was filled with the sounds of hungry female Sucking Bleaters.
"Now, what we gotta do," Hagrid shouted, a glint in his eyes, "is pick 'em up. Be careful not to touch the sucking end, otherwise they'll latch onto you and they won' come off."
"And how do we know which end is the sucking one?" Draco called sarcastically.
Hagrid stared at him steely-eyed and said, "Jus' hope you get lucky."
Draco paled slightly, but nobody noticed with the noise the Bleaters were making.
"Then just hold them up to yer ear and see if they're one o' the Bleaters making noise. If they are, put them in the bucket on the left. Males go on the right."
Harry and Ron slowly moved towards the bowl and watched Hagrid as he picked up a Sucking Bleater. He held it up to his ear, being careful to stay out of its reach. Then he dropped it into one of the empty buckets. Looking expectantly at them, he motioned with his hands towards the very full bucket, and Harry reluctantly picked up a Bleater with two fingers; Ron and Draco watched. With a yell, he tried to let go of the Bleater and started waving his hand around; the Sucking Bleater was attached to his finger. Rushing forward and grabbing Harry's arm, Hagrid wrenched the Bleater off with one powerful yank. He listened to it briefly, and then tossed into the other empty bucket. Then he faced Harry.
"You alrigh', Harry?"
Harry nodded.
"You see, try to stay away from the ends that start curling…those are the ends with the mouth. Do that, and you'll be fine."
Ron now picked up a Sucking Bleater and held it arm's length away. Screwing up his face in concentration, he tried to detect if his Bleater was making noise or not, but with the whole room filled with bleats, he couldn't tell. He quickly put it next to his ear and then threw it into the container that Hagrid had put his into.
"You, Malfoy, ge' over 'ere an' help."
Reluctantly, Draco walked up to the table and grabbed a Sucking Bleater out of the container. All of them were writhing about, and he grabbed one that was moving less than the others. Cold and slimy, it wriggled in his hands, and he tightly held onto one end. It didn't immediately attach itself to his finger, so he supposed he had the tail end. He put the Bleater next to his ear and listened. At first, he didn't hear anything, but shortly the Bleater gave a shrill cry in his ear. Draco ripped it away and dropped it into the bucket on the left, rubbing his ear. It was going to be a long night.
Sighing in relief, Draco exited Hagrid's cabin almost two full hours later. Harry and Ron were staying behind for a little while to help Hagrid clean up, but Draco had gotten out as soon as he could. It had taken them longer than expected to sort through all of the Bleaters; when they were halfway done, a Bleater had attached itself to Ron's hand, and as he had waved it about, he had knocked all the buckets over, mixing together males and females. They had had to start over.
Draco breathed in the cold night air, trying to clear his ears of the ringing that was going on inside them. He didn't know if he'd ever hear right again. Tired to the bone, he hurried his way across the empty grounds towards the castle.
By the time he got to his room, he had put his horrible evening behind him. He dropped onto his bed, and within minutes, sleep enveloped him.
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A/N: You guys are lucky. I almost put a very very very very very evil cliffhanger there. But I decided to be nice to you since I won't be updating for about a month. Sooooo, that means you have to be nice and review. Please. Lol, when I was writing that snowball fight, I kept picturing them throwing snowballs to the YMCA song. It kinda ruined the mood of the story, but it was really funny.
Lauren
