I do something a little different with the POVs in this chapter. Normally I stick with either Draco's or Ginny's or anybody else's POV until there's a page break, and then I either switch POVs or go to a new scene. Well in the first section of this chapter, right after the first page break, I switch back and forth a few times between Draco's and Ginny's POV without the page breaks. It was just easier this way. You'll see. But then after the next page break, I go back to normal.
But…Everybody celebrate! Metallica finally joined iTunes!
Disclaimer: The only thing I own at the moment is a headache. So please, keep your Harry Potter legal issues to yourself until I'm feeling better able to handle a lawsuit. And even when I'm feeling better…still keep it to yourself.
Chapter 36: More Than a Feeling
Ginny sat on a chair in her room, staring at her reflection in the mirror that rested on the dresser. She sighed, drumming her fingers against the wood top. Biting her lip, she turned her face to the left and looked at her reflection. She frowned and turned her head the other way.
"Oh it's no use," Ginny said grumpily, slumping back in her seat. She glared resentfully at herself. She pointed her chin upwards and stared at the mirror again, seeing what others saw when she was looking down.
She didn't like what she saw.
Hopelessly she leaned forward and looked closely at her face, at the freckles that she hated. She sighed again and looked at the brown and pink wooden box sitting on her dresser.
Should I or shouldn't I? Ginny contemplated, biting her lip again. She stared hard at the box that she had, on a whim, gone and asked to borrow from Parvati. It was filled with all sorts of makeup, stuff that Ginny usually avoided. But for reasons that Ginny couldn't explain, she was very nervous about tonight. In just a few hours, she'd be going to meet Draco down at the tunnel, and it was the first time she'd be able to talk to him face to face since he had kissed her.
Ginny let out a deep breath and inspected herself again. She'd always been self-conscious, vain too, though not in the typical way. Ginny didn't think herself to be anything extraordinary to look at; she never had thought that. But that never stopped her from wishing she was different. Maybe if she was just a bit taller, she'd be okay. Or if her face didn't have quite so many freckles, she'd be a bit more confident. Though the freckles weren't nearly as prominent as they had been years ago, they were still there, and Ginny hated it.
But what bothered her more was why this was suddenly such a problem. Ginny had learned to accept herself, to face the fact that she'd never be as pretty as some other girls. Now, though, all her insecurities of years past seemed to pile up on her two-fold.
Deep down Ginny knew the source of this problem, knew that it was because of Draco. She hated to admit that what he thought of her was important, but at the same time, she wanted to look nice for him. Draco Malfoy was used to a beautiful nearly always clinging to his arm. So Ginny had gone to Parvati and asked to borrow one of the things she despised.
What am I doing? Ginny thought, shaking her head sadly. She sighed and closed the box that she had tentatively opened. This isn't me; this isn't who I am.
Ginny let out a frustrated growl of annoyance at herself and walked out of the room, makeup box tucked under her arm. She knocked and entered the seventh-year girls' dormitory and saw Hermione digging through her trunk and Parvati and Lavendar both sitting on a bed, looking at pictures in a magazine. Hermione turned and smiled at Ginny.
"Hey," Hermione said. Ginny smiled back but headed towards Parvati and Lavendar. She could feel Hermione watching her questioningly.
"Here," Ginny said, handing the box to Parvati. "I decided that I don't need it. But thanks for letting me borrow it."
Before Parvati could ask why she didn't want to use the makeup, Ginny turned around and walked out of the room, not daring to look Hermione in the eye. She knew Hermione was suspicious. Ginny had protested the entire time Parvati and Lavendar had put makeup on them for the Christmas ball. Hermione knew what was in that box.
But what Hermione didn't know was why Ginny wanted at, especially at nine o'clock at night. Ginny cursed herself for her bad timing; she shouldn't have picked that exact minute to return the makeup.
When Ginny got back to her room, she set her alarm clock for twenty minutes till midnight and crawled into bed, not bothering to change out of her clothes. The rest of Ginny's dorm-mates were not in the room yet, and Ginny was grateful. She doused the lights with a wave of her wand and laid her head down, trying to get some sleep before midnight.
Draco slowly walked through the deserted corridors that night. While he was eager to get to the tunnel and see Ginny, at the same time he was dreading it. It'd been almost a week since he'd last seen her, since he'd kissed her. Was she going to hate him for it? Draco knew that wouldn't happen, but he couldn't help but feel slightly pessimistic.
She wouldn't ask to come down here again if she hated you, you know, he told himself. The truth was, Draco was terrified of her. It was more like he was terrified of disappointing her, of building up her hopes only to have them shatter at any moment. If they did end up being together, their relationship couldn't go any further than at school. Exactly what Draco would do with his life after school was still unknown; he would, according to his father, get the Dark Mark and join Voldemort. Draco knew that he wouldn't, though.
No, after school, he'd probably try to find a safe place for himself and his mother. And after that…well, then Draco would see. All he knew is that he would have nothing to do with Voldemort or his father. Being with Ginny would complicate things too much, no matter how much Draco did want to be with her.
But hadn't she said she was willing to work through it? Hadn't she said, back when Draco's attempt to erase his memory had failed, that they would find another way to resist his father? Draco smiled as he walked down a flight of steps.
She had.
Sooner than Draco would have liked, he reached the tunnel entrance. Ginny was nowhere in sight, so he rested against the castle wall, grateful for a few extra minutes to compose himself. It seemed so strange that while they were going back into the tunnel to get further than last time and hopefully find whoever was taking the students, he and Ginny could be so concerned about a relationship together. Draco could just imagine the look on Ron Weasley's face if he were to find Ginny with Draco Malfoy, his worst enemy. He laughed as he imagined it.
"Glad to see you're in a good mood," said a very familiar voice. Looking up, Draco saw Ginny Weasley approaching him, a slight smile on her face.
"Hey," he greeted, pushing himself off of the wall. Ginny stood before him, looking up at him. He could tell that she was nervous…shy, really. "Are you ready for this?"
"Yeah," Ginny nodded. Lighting her wand, she stepped into the tunnel and glanced over her shoulder to see if Draco was going to follow her. He did, his heart beating uncomfortably quickly. He lit his wand, adding to the light coming from Ginny's.
For a few minutes, both of them walked slowly and silently. Draco figured that Ginny would never initiate a conversation that had to do with their kiss. She was too shy to. Draco wasn't used to shy girls, but he found the change both refreshing and exciting. No, Ginny would never be the one to bring up that subject. If they were going to talk about it tonight, it would have to be by Draco's doing.
But then Ginny proved him wrong.
"Draco?" Ginny asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
"What?" Draco replied, curious. She seemed embarrassed by what she was going to ask, making Draco suspect that it had nothing to do with what they were going to do in the tunnel.
"Some things are worth living for, right?" she asked determinedly, continuing to walk. "Worth fighting and dying for?"
"Yes," Draco said, glancing uneasily at Ginny. He had a feeling he knew where she was going with this.
"What about me?" she asked suddenly, stopping to stand and look straight at Draco.
Draco halted from the bluntness of her question. "Huh?" he asked, blinking.
"Am I worth fighting for?" she asked, her cheeks reddening as if she couldn't believe that she was asking these questions. Draco stared at her dumbly for a few seconds as he wondered what he should say.
"I suppose that all came out wrong," Ginny sighed, looking away embarrassedly. "What I mean to say is…I guess – I-I don't know," she shrugged. Draco watched her breathlessly. Then she looked up with a fierce look on her face. "What did it mean?" she asked.
"What did what mean?" Draco asked, knowing perfectly well what she was talking about.
From what Draco could tell from the dim light in the tunnel, Ginny's face was quite red, and he suddenly felt a ashamed of himself for making her go through such an awkward moment. However, he was quite relieved that he hadn't been the one to start this conversation.
"When you kissed me," she said quickly. "And all those things you said before that. What did it mean?"
Now it was Draco's turn to be uncomfortable. He stared at the ground, his mind racing. He knew exactly what it had meant. For quite some time before that night, he'd been struggling with himself over the feelings for Ginny that were slowly developing against his will. And when it seemed like all those memories would have to be erased, he had wanted to at least have one memory of her, even if it would only last a few minutes. He had wanted to pretend for just a little while that she was his. But revealing such information about himself would be dreadfully embarrassing, not to mention uncharacteristic.
"Well," he began slowly, with a deep breath, "I suppose it meant that I don't hate you anymore."
Ginny looked back at him blankly. "Uh," Draco continued, sensing that she wanted more from him, "I – I mean, I stopped hating you a while ago, Ginny…I think you knew that." He looked away, biting his lip. He wanted to tell Ginny how he felt about her, but he didn't quite know how he felt himself. Besides, he'd never done anything like this before. He'd never had to even pretend to be serious with a girl before. No other girl had ever wanted anything permanent from him; they had all just wanted bragging rights with their friends.
"Well, I guess it means that I like you a little," Draco said quietly, shrugging as he looked at the ground. Now it was his turn to blush. This was only time number two that that had ever happened in his life, and he still wasn't used to the uncomfortable feeling it gave him. Draco rubbed his neck, inwardly groaning at what he had just said. The words seemed so foreign coming from his mouth. But then he thought back to the night he had kissed Ginny. By his reasoning, he had said quite a lot more incriminating things that night, and Ginny hadn't laughed at him. That thought gave him the strength to look up and face the girl before him.
Ginny was watching him expressionlessly. She was desperately trying to hide the smile that was threatening to break free. She felt an enormous weight lift off her shoulders when Draco admitted, rather reluctantly, that he liked her. It was like a balloon was inflating inside her, making her heart overflow with so much feeling that she thought it was going to burst apart.
Before she could stop it, a huge grin appeared on her face and she started laughing. Draco scowled at her, turning away and stalking down the tunnel. Cringing as her smile disappeared, Ginny hurried after him, cursing herself for laughing. Knowing how touchy Draco was regarding feelings and revealing personal information, she figured what he had just said must've been pretty hard to admit. He probably thinks I'm laughing at him because of what he said, Ginny thought, horrified.
Ginny grabbed his arm. "Draco, wait, that's not what I meant," she said, but Draco just shrugged her hand off his arm and walked even faster. A growl of frustration slipped out of her mouth and Ginny ran to stand right in front of Draco. He merely pushed her aside and kept walking.
"I said wait!" Ginny shouted, angry now.
Draco spun around to face her. "What?" he snapped furiously.
"I wasn't laughing at you," Ginny said, breathing heavily.
"Then what were you doing?" Draco asked, frowning angrily. Ginny noticed how flushed his face was and wondered for a moment if he was actually blushing. She decided it wouldn't be best to mention that right now.
"I was laughing because I was happy," she said as she looked at him breathlessly.
The two teens stared at each other for what felt like an eternity to Draco. She was laughing because she was happy? He shook his head. "Bloody hell, couldn't you have just said you were happy instead of laughing like a lunatic?"
"Sorry," she smiled. She didn't look sorry at all. Draco thought she actually looked rather proud of herself. He shook his head again, smiling to himself.
"So now what?" he asked.
Ginny shrugged. "I don't know," she said. She paused before going on. "I guess I should say that I like you a little too."
"Just a little?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrow. "Because you know, Weasley, I happen to be a devilishly handsome man and no woman has ever liked me just a little."
He enjoyed watching the furious expression appear on her face, enjoyed knowing that he could affect her so. "I'll have you know, Malfoy," Ginny began, and though she tried to look angry, Draco could hear the humor in her voice. "I'll have you know right here and now that I have –"
Draco leaned in and kissed her before she could finish her sentence. His mouth was pressing against hers firmly, leaving no room for her to protest; at the moment though, Ginny didn't appear to have any protests on her mind. Her arms curled around Draco's neck as he pushed her against the wall of the tunnel, pressing his body against hers.
After a few more moments, he broke away and whispered against her mouth, "Have I ever told you that you talk too much?"
Ginny shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. Draco leaned down again and captured her mouth in a gentler, shorter kiss before he pulled away. Ginny swallowed and instinctively licked her lips.
"Well, I guess that's settled, then," he said, smirking at her.
"What's settled?" Ginny asked, cocking her head to the side.
"You do like me more than just a little and you do find me devilishly handsome," he grinned at her very satisfactorily.
Ginny swatted his arm but smiled nonetheless. "And what brings you to that conclusion?" she asked.
"Well," Draco said, offering his arm to Ginny, who took it, "because of the way you so eagerly kissed me back." They resumed their trek back down the tunnel. "Nobody kisses like that if they only like someone just a little."
Ginny blushed at Draco's words, wondering if she had been that obvious. She really did like Draco, but the depth of how much she really did like him had hit her only tonight. When she had left the common room to meet him down here, Ginny had made up her mind to be the one to confront Draco. She had been very embarrassed by the way she had started the conversation with Draco that evening, and she had then convinced herself that Draco would think her a twit for sounding so serious, but she had stumbled her way through the awkwardness. Now she was glad that she had.
"Ginny," Draco said, breaking the silence. Ginny could tell by his voice that he was serious.
"What?" she asked, looking up at him. He didn't meet her gaze.
"Don't think that this can last all that long," he said sadly. "I don't know what I'm doing after school."
Ginny nodded silently, knowing that he was thinking of his father.
"And…" Draco continued, a bit more hesitantly, "don't think that this is love or anything. I don't even know what love is." He sighed. "I've never loved anybody before and I don't know if I can start now."
"I don't expect you to," Ginny said quietly, trying to hide her sadness. To never have loved anybody was almost unthinkable. Ginny had always known that Draco's home life wasn't that great, but she would've thought that he would've loved at least one person, an uncle or somebody. "But you have your mother and you have…me now," Ginny said, smiling at the thought. "We can help you through this."
Draco didn't say anything, but he squeezed her elbow. Ginny's heart dropped a little when she thought of Narcissa. However, she tried to push the thought of Draco's mother out of her mind for tonight.
"So what do you think is down this tunnel, really?" Ginny asked Draco. She felt him shrug.
"I don't know," he said. "That's why we're down here."
"I suppose so," Ginny agreed.
By now they had come to the part of the tunnel where Draco needed to use the stone to trigger the hidden passageway. Ginny watched and waited silently as the tunnel went through its transformation. When it was finished, she and Draco started down again.
A while later they reached the bottom of the tunnel and stood looking at the cavern that lay before them. Ginny shivered slightly, remembered what had happened the last time she had come down here. If it hadn't been for Draco, she might not have made it back out.
As if sensing what she was thinking about, Draco said, "Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to you." Ginny smiled weakly at him, wondering if that would indeed be the case.
Just as Draco was about to lead the way into the cavern, Ginny grabbed his arm and pointed to the other side. "Look," she said quietly.
When Draco finally saw what Ginny was pointing at, she heard him inhale sharply. Ginny herself was stunned. The monster that usually guarded the tunnel on the opposite side of the cavern was making his way down the cliff side, a large object thrown over its shoulder.
"What does it have?" Ginny whispered to Draco, not taking her eyes off the creature. Draco just shook his head as he watched it get closer, starting to make its way around the large lake.
"Quick," he whispered, pulling Ginny behind him. He crouched low to the ground and ran alongside the cave wall. They stopped a safe distance away from the tunnel they'd just come out of and ducked behind a couple of large boulders. Ginny tried to tell if they'd been seen or not, but she decided that they hadn't since the monster kept on as if he hadn't noticed them.
For a few minutes, both Ginny and Draco watched as it got closer and closer to the tunnel entrance. To Ginny, it looked as if whatever it was carrying was a human body. She saw a pair of legs hanging down the front of the monster; the other half of the body was thrown over its back, hidden front sight.
As the creature started into the tunnel, Draco squinted, getting a good look at what the creature was carrying. His eyes widened in shock and he half-shouted, half whispered, "Pansy?"
"Ssh," Ginny hissed, clapping her hand over Draco's mouth and pulling him closer to the ground. She had no desire to get caught again. However, she did peer around the edge of the rock to see the creature disappear into the tunnel; she saw what looked like a very unconscious, very strange-looking Pansy Parkinson dangling over his shoulder.
"What the…" Draco trailed off, frowning. Shrugging her shoulders, Ginny glanced at Draco, who was staring at the spot where Pansy and the creature had disappeared.
"Come on," Ginny said, starting to step out from behind the rocks. "We have to follow them."
Draco grabbed her elbow and pulled her back down to the ground. "No," he said. "I have a feeling that she's being returned just like those other boys were. She's fine."
"But we have to see where they're going," Ginny insisted.
"No," Draco repeated. "We'll wait until it comes back, and then we'll go find her."
"But what if she's hurt?" Ginny asked, not quite knowing why she was concerned over Pansy.
Draco snorted as he leaned his back against the stone wall and stretched his legs out in front of him. "The only thing that's going to be hurt is her pride, Ginny," he said, looking quite pleased. "Did you get a good look at her? She's got elephant ears."
Ginny's eye brows rose. "What?" she asked, blinking.
Draco grinned and said, "She had two very large, very gray, very elephant-like ears on her head instead of human ones."
Ginny's mouth was open in shock, but it quickly spread out into a smile. Oh this I have got to see, she thought, glancing behind Draco to the tunnel entrance even though Pansy was no longer in sight. Shaking her head, Ginny sat back against the wall next to Draco, preparing herself for a long wait.
Nearly a half hour later, Ginny was growing restless. She and Draco had both remained silent although they knew that the creature was gone; however, they didn't want to take any chances. Ginny was finding the ominous silence unnerving. So without really thinking, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"Your mum hates me," she said quickly, instantly cringing when Draco's head whipped around to look at her.
"What?" he asked, frowning at the bluntness of Ginny's question. "No she doesn't."
"Yes she does," Ginny said, looking down. "I can tell by the way she looks at me."
"You went to see her?" Draco asked.
"No, not her in particular," Ginny said. "I went to see Reina this afternoon. Your mother just happened to come downstairs while I was there."
"She came out of her room?" Draco inquired, some anger showing.
"Yeah," Ginny replied, looking up. "Why, is she not supposed to?"
Draco shrugged. "I don't know. I just think it'd be better if she didn't during the day. But she doesn't hate you, Ginny," he said a bit more gently, seeing the tears hovering in Ginny's eyes.
"I suppose she looks at me like I'm some annoying bug and talks to me like I'm a house elf because she loves me then," she said sarcastically. "I'm sorry, Draco," she said quietly. "I don't mean to talk about her like that, it's just…" She closed her eyes.
"Don't worry about it," Draco said. "I mean, don't worry about my mother. She'll get over it," he said harshly, looking away. Ginny glanced at him, perplexed, and saw that he had a hard look on his face, one she hadn't seen since earlier that year before they were friends. She wondered what exactly he meant by his last statement.
However, she didn't get to dwell on it too much longer for at that precise second, Ginny heard footsteps approaching. She sat up, followed by Draco, and watched carefully as the creature returned, this time without Pansy. They both crouched low behind the rocks as they watched it make its way back to the opposite side of the cavern and disappear into the other tunnel.
After they were sure that it wasn't coming back, Ginny and Draco ran from behind the rocks and back into their own tunnel that led to the school. All the way up they remained silent, both of them excited to have actually found one of the missing students. Ginny felt worried for Neville, though. Why was he still missing? Unless he was hurt or worse, he should've been returned before Pansy was. So did that mean that Neville was dead? She hoped not.
Once they were safely back inside the castle, they stood around for a few seconds.
"Where do you think it took her?" Ginny whispered. "It couldn't have gone far because it wasn't gone that long."
"I don't know," Draco mused, looking around as if he could tell which way Pansy was.
Ginny pursed her lips, thinking as well. An idea came to her, and for only a moment did she hesitate before she raised her wand.
"Accio Pansy Parkinson," she said quietly yet clearly. Draco's head whipped towards Ginny when she spoke and all she could do was grin sheepishly at his stunned look, shrugging.
Then a loud thudding noise could be heard to her left and Ginny held her breath as she watched Pansy Parkinson float through the air, occasionally banging against the walls. She came to a halt right in front of Ginny, who released the spell; she had the grace to flinch as the girl fell a few feet to the ground.
Draco was still staring at her disbelievingly. "What?" Ginny asked.
"I cannot believe that you just did that," Draco said, not taking his eyes off of Ginny. She wrinkled her face and looked down at Pansy. "I mean," Draco continued, shaking his head, "that was a very Slytherin-like thing to do. Are you sure I'm not rubbing off on you?"
"Oh believe me," Ginny said, grinning, "that's the last thing I want."
Ginny watched Draco smirk at her with a rather proud look on his face. Then they turned their attentions back to Pansy, becoming serious again.
Well, they tried to be serious.
But Ginny had to bite on her lip hard to make sure that her laughter stayed inside of her mouth. The site of Pansy Parkinson with elephant ears was almost too much for her to endure. Ginny glanced at Draco and saw him wearing a soft smile as he gazed at his fellow Slytherin.
"I suppose I should take her to Dumbledore," Draco said, still looking at Pansy.
Ginny's smile faded. "And I suppose I can't come with, right?"
"Right," Draco agreed. "I'll be able to explain this off to Dumbledore, tell him something like I fell asleep in the library earlier and was on my way back when I found her. I don't know; I'll think of something."
Ginny nodded. "So I guess I should be getting back to my dorm…"
"Yeah," Draco said quietly. "But I'm sure you'll be hearing all about this," he waved his hand over Pansy, "tomorrow, along with the rest of the school."
"Well, okay then," said Ginny, starting to back away yet not taking her eyes off Draco yet. She wasn't sure what exactly to do. For once, though, she didn't have to think about it much because Draco then stepped around Pansy and towards Ginny. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a searing kiss that left Ginny tingling all the way down to her toes.
"Goodnight, Ginny," Draco murmured against her lips before he stepped away from her.
"Goodnight," replied Ginny breathlessly. She sent Draco a dazzling smile before she turned around.
She had to restrain the sudden urge to skip back to her room.
Draco watched Ginny walk away with his head spinning. Tonight had certainly been a strange one, but Draco wouldn't have changed a thing. For one, he had gotten to kiss Ginny Weasley twice in one night. Draco didn't know what it was, but just a simple touch from her, just her skin against his, was enough to make his mind fog over. There was something about that girl, something Draco had never found in anyone else. He didn't know what it was, but for the life of him he was glad he had it.
Also, the night had been an interesting one because he had just found Pansy Parkinson with elephant ears. Draco looked down at the girl and shook his head, smirking at her. She'd probably die of humiliation when she woke up. However, Draco didn't release her from the stunning spell he was sure she was under. He had no wish to deal with her hysterics right now.
So instead, he levitated her behind himself and started walking towards the headmaster's office. He already knew the password because he'd been called up to Dumbledore's office a week ago. The only fear Draco had was that Dumbledore might be asleep; after all, it was nearly one o' clock in the morning.
When Draco reached the stone gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office, he set Pansy on the ground, taking the levitation spell off of her. Grimacing at the thought of contact with Pansy, he nevertheless picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder in the same position that the monster under the school had carried her in. Then he turned to the gargoyle and said, "Ice Mice."
The gargoyle moved aside and Draco stepped onto the stone stairs which slowly started spiraling upwards. Draco waited as patiently as he could as Pansy's dead weight over his shoulder started to bother him. Finally, though, the stairs stopped and Draco reached out with his free hand and knocked on the door, hoping with all his might that Dumbledore was awake.
To his immense relief, the door opened a few seconds later to reveal a tired yet very-much awake Professor Dumbledore. His eyes widened when he saw Draco carrying a person, and he stepped aside, saying, "Do come in." Draco entered the headmaster's office and set Pansy on the floor, glad to be rid of her.
"I found her near the Prefect's Bathroom on my way back from the library," Draco explained, looking down at Pansy. "I accidentally fell asleep in there and just woke up a while ago."
"I see," Dumbledore said. Draco glanced up to find him looking at Pansy.
"I think she's just unconscious. Stunned or something, most likely," Draco said, hoping that Dumbledore didn't see through his lies. "I didn't know what to do so I brought her to you."
Dumbledore, other than looking tired, appeared to have not yet gone to bed. Draco noticed several books, ink bottles, parchment, and quills scattered across his desk. Fawkes the phoenix was eyeing him sleepily. Dumbledore walked over to one of the portraits.
"Angela, do be a dear and go fetch Professor Snape, will you? Tell him to hurry," he instructed an old yet very alert-looking woman in a portrait.
"Right away, Headmaster Dumbledore," the woman nodded, scampering out of sight. Draco watched her go and then turned back to Dumbledore, who was now bending over Pansy. He picked up one of the elephant ears in his hand and looked at it, perplexed.
After a few minutes, Dumbledore stood and turned to Draco, who saw his mouth twitch. "Elephant ears," he mused. "Quite…strange."
Even if Draco had wanted to discuss the abnormality of the situation, he didn't have time to because there was suddenly a knock on the door. "Come in, Severus," Dumbledore called. Draco thought he sounded just a bit more cheerful than the situation called for, but he himself was amused.
The door opened to reveal Draco's Potions teacher wearing his usual black robes. The weary look in his eyes and the slightly tousled hair were the only evidence that he had been sleeping earlier. Snape's eyes immediately narrowed in confusion upon spotting Draco, and then they finally landed on Pansy lying on the ground, causing his eyes to widen again in astonishment.
"What is that?" he asked.
"That, Severus," replied Dumbledore, "would be Pansy Parkinson."
Snape stared at the girl, his mouth wrinkling in disgust. "Where was she?"
"Draco found her near the Prefect's Bathroom," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling at Draco. Severus's eyes then snapped towards the boy.
"I was asleep in the library and I only just woke up," Draco said uncomfortably. He forced himself to stare his teacher in the eye, willing himself to act nonchalant. To make the façade more convincible, he boldly picked up one of the trinkets on Dumbledore's desk and inspected it with an air of boredom.
Snape snorted softly and looked back at Dumbledore and said more politely, "What do want me to do?"
"Take her to Madame Pomfrey," Dumbledore replied as he eyed Draco in amusement before turning his attention to Snape. "Make sure that Poppy understands that nobody other than teachers or injured students are to be allowed into the infirmary, to spare Miss Parkinson as much humiliation as possible."
"Yes, Sir," Snape replied. He shot another criticizing glance at Draco before he bent over and picked Pansy up before he swept out of the room.
Draco put the trinket back on Dumbledore's desk. "I should be leaving too," Draco announced. "I'm dreadfully tired and there's a lot to do tomorrow."
"Hold on, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said. Draco froze, his hand on the door. He slowly turned around, cursing his bad luck.
"Yes?" he asked tersely.
"Where did you really find Miss Parkinson?"
"Near the Prefect's Bathroom," Draco insisted calmly.
"Are you sure about that?" Dumbledore asked, one of his eyebrows raised.
"Yes," Draco said, narrowing his eyes. "You don't believe me?"
"Well," Dumbledore continued, his eyes twinkling at Draco, "since the library is on the fourth floor, the Prefect's Bathroom is on the fifth floor, and your dormitories are in the dungeons, I find it difficult to believe that you found her on your way back to bed."
Draco cursed under his breath. He had had plenty of time coming to Dumbledore's office to think up a plausible excuse for finding Pansy, and he had ended up getting caught on a technicality. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he berated himself.
"Well, Sir," Draco said, putting on a remorse face. "I suppose I lied. I did fall asleep in the library like I said, but I was feeling too restless to go back to my dorm right away. So I walked a little; you know, to take my mind off things." Draco looked away shamefacedly, hoping Dumbledore was buying his story. "So," he continued, shrugging, "I was walking up on the fifth floor when I found Pansy. I lied about where I found her because I didn't want to get into trouble."
Dumbledore nodded. "Well, Draco, I have no choice but to take twenty points away from Slytherin. But since you did find Miss Parkinson and turn her in, I will not give you a detention for lying as you deserve."
"Thank you, Sir," Draco said, smirking on the inside, though outwardly, he merely looked grateful. "If that is all, I think I'll just be –"
"Not quite yet, Draco," Dumbledore smiled. "What is your greatest fear?"
Draco stared at his headmaster, shaking his head in disbelief. Couldn't the man just let it go?
"I don't fear anything."
Dumbledore sighed. "Very well then…you may go."
Draco wasted no time in exiting the room, glancing over his shoulder once to see Dumbledore shaking his head sadly.
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A/N: I apologize for any typos that are in this chapter. I spent all of yesterday and today writing it, and quite frankly, my brain feels very fuzzy so I didn't do very well proof-reading this. Thank you to Sendarian Poltergeist for pointing out one typo I made. No worries, I've fixed it. But still, it's rather embarrassing when I make a mistake like that. And just to let you know, there are exactly 4 chapters left of the story.
Does anybody watch America's Got Talent? Just curious.
Review!
Lauren
