A/N: so yes, here's the new chappie… late late, i know, don't mention it! But I read all the fanfic I could lately to try get new ideas and stuff and it actually did help me so all hail fanfic, lol. I know I always say I'm gonna try to update more regularly and all, but yeah, I have exams now, and I never know when I'm gonna sink into depression and lose all will to do anything, so sorry.

Enjoy this… I actually have ideas for next chapter so I'll probably write it soon.

1. ALL MY APOLOGIES. YOU'RE THE BEST READERS IN THE WORLD!

And thanks to Fire'N'Ice for the beta-reading….

2. PLEASE again, note I'm French. English is actually my third language. So sorry for any grammar etc mistakes.

3. I'm aware that Ginny's full name is in fact Ginevra, but I started this fic before this info came out and I'm not gonna re-upload each bloody chapter again just for a mention of a name. I'll change it the day I revise the whole story.

Oh, and the pink feather boa was inspired by shinywriterindarkness.

Chapter 32: havoc and feather boas

Draco's pov

Nobody has forced me to go back to class.

Nobody at all.

Even Professor Weasley left me alone. Of course, it doesn't mean the gossip doesn't go on.

Looks.

Pity.

I hate them. I hate them all with their glassy eyes as they throw me weak smiles and pitiful stares. I hate them for being all so stupid. So heartbroken over a little prat like me. What's the big deal? A few months back, everybody would have brushed it aside and left me to rot there. But not now. No, let's be sympathetic. Let's show him how we other houses are not like his Slytherin mates who act normal again.

Sure, they were annoyed. Annoyed at my weakness towards self-destruction, annoyed at my foolishness in front of the Dark Lord; annoyed at my friendship with Ginny. And I found them stupid to laugh at Hannah's death, and I found them stupid for the way they treated Ginny or me, or anybody actually. And most of them ARE stupid. I mean, Parkinson is a fine example in that field.

Maybe, but they're still my family. And they don't treat me like a poor little boy who lost his mummy and whose daddy is so terribly meaaaan. They don't fucking look at me with tearful eyes and that kind of crap.

There. Another of these stares. Two Hufflepuffs that I never even looked at.

I jump off the window sill and go to look for more peaceful place.

That's the pattern of all my days and nights. Hide.

I haven't set a foot in a class. It doesn't really matter; I know the whole program anyway. My dear father always made sure of that so I'd have time for extra studying to beat Granger.

So I hide.

And while I explore the most shadowy corners of the castle, I wander in the dark of my mind. I relive the past months. I relive Hannah's death and all that happened from then on.

I walk towards a cloister now. I need some fresh air I guess. The sun burns my eyes and warms my frozen body. I've just been enjoying the light for barely ten minutes that I feel a hand on my shoulder. I internally growl. If it's to give me the "I'm so sorry Malfoy, had we have any clue of what was going on with you blah blah blah" bullshit, I'm going to punch someone. Seriously.

"Draco, stop bloody blocking me out of your mind!" I hear a familiar voice behind me. I turn around to be faced with Ginny. Well well well, someone is skiving off.

"I doubt professor Snape will particularly appreciate the fact that you take little strolls while you should be in potions class, tortured alongside your fellow Gryffindors."

"He sent me, idiot. You haven't been to class, meals or anything. You have blocked me out of your mind and you've been avoiding me," she states in an annoyed voice.

I sigh loudly and turn away from her to continue my little walk. Honestly, what is it with Gryffindors and their habit of insisting to pry and care and never give up even when it doesn't profit them and the message is CLEAR that the object of their prying doesn't want them here?

"Draco, come back here this instant and talk to me! We have to talk!"

She seems kind of desperate and I can feel her try to push my mental walls, I push her back from them so forcefully that she actually staggers back physically.

"I think it needs to stop here, Gin. Thanks for everything. And please, don't follow me."

I wince at the sharpness and the coldness in my voice as I stroll away from my shocked friend. I don't think she will understand. I've tried to push her away before and she always came back but this time, I'll hurt her enough so she doesn't. We got too close to each other.

Way too close.

Molly's pov

First years are a nightmare. I think I'm starting to understand Severus' lack of patience towards them. I thought I'd give a new shot at the Cornish pixies experiment (though of course not Lockhart's way) and the kids are creating even more havoc than the snickering purplish thinguies.

A movement near the door averts my eyes and I find myself staring into Draco's mocking silver orbs. A smirk graces his features as he looks at the chaotic state of the classroom and I freeze as I see the coldness that envelops him. This iciness and uneasy feeling surrounding him that had slowly melted away throughout the year.

I charge my eyes with sternness and address him briskly. "Mr Malfoy, you have no business in this class, unless you want to clean it up. I thus suggest you leave and go to your own class before I take off points and give you detention till the end of the month."

"Of course professor. I'm sure you cannot wait to give all these first years a detention as well, to clean all this. Good day."

He turns around to stroll out, but I see some relief and actual amusement in his eyes. So I was right. After raising seven children, it only took me three weeks to understand that all Draco wants is for things to go back to normal. Smart Molly, really smart. Outstanding. Amazing. Fascinating.

My eyes fall on the students. "Everybody, detention after dinner tonight. And ten points from your houses for sheer incapacity to listen to basic instructions. Your supplementary homework is also to write a paper about Cornish pixies. Two feet long."

I can hear whispers and moans of annoyance. "This paper will be on my desk by Friday, which gives you two days to complete it. Class is dismissed."

They're shocked beyond belief and the looks on their faces is a real "Kodak moment" as Colin Creevey would put it. Satisfaction creeps in my body. I didn't think teaching would be THAT amusing. I saunter off to the teachers' room to relate my Snapey-style lesson to Severus.

Blaise's pov

The Slytherin common room is noisy when I step in. Nott and Goyle are blasting some metal music, Pansy is literally SHRIEKING over the gossip some older students are spreading, games of exploding snap, chess and bullying go on. Typical evening in the common room.

But as much as Millicent stalks me to stay talk to her, which I always refuse considering she has a bloody crush on me, I sprint to my dorm to escape her claws. I close the wooden door with a huge sigh of relief, like some adventurer who survived a trip through the Forbidden Forest.

I hear a snort behind me. "Got through it Zabini? Congratulations, have a chocolate frog." The damn thing crashes against my skull. I smirk inwardly, perfectly knowing why I've come in this dorm in the first place. Torture little Malfoy.

"Well well well, look who's hiding all alone and eating chocolate frogs. You aware that it's not considered a decent meal?"

"What do you want Zabini, Granger got boring?" he drawls lazily while digging under his bed for another box of frogs.

"Nopey, Ginny came to me with a very strange story indeed."

I collapse on his bed and push the chocolate frogs wrappings with my foot. "Geroff my bed Zabini."

I ignore him and push the game a little further. "So Draco dear, why did you throw Ginny away?"

"I did nothing of the sort. You don't understand anything, just like her," he snaps back angrily.

"Then explain yourself. Because she came crying to me about how much of an asshole you were," I retaliate as snappily.

"I don't have to justify myself to you. Go. Away. Right. Now," he spits through gritted teeth.

I brush invisible dust off my robe and plaster my best innocent smirk on my face. "Do I really look like an idiot?"

I can hear him mutter something along the lines of 'Do I have to answer this honestly' but I'm not really listening. Contrary to what most people think of Slyherin, some of us do have brains. And I'm blessed enough to be among them. Considering I'm also in the hot group, I'd say I'm not that bad. And modest.

"Zabini, shut your goddamn face! I don't care if you think you're smart, cute and modest."

I roll my eyes and sit up to face him. His face is annoyed, cold, pale. Draco Malfoy, the Prince of Ice.

"Okay, end of the little Parkinson-level games. I very much know what you're trying to do. There is no way to go back to how things were before, there is no way to forget these past months, there is no way to stop Voldemort by just ignoring the git, there is no throwing Ginny away, and that's for a few very important reasons."

He raises his eyebrow, waiting for the rest of my rant.

"One, she's a Weasley, and Weasleys are fucking stubborn. Two, she has 6 brothers who probably swore a wizard oath to have your head at the end of a spear if you hurt her, which you're doing right now; and three, you can't throw away and treat like shit your crush," I finish with a wink and a cheeky grin while Draco chokes on his chocolate frog.

"Blaise Zabini, I may take into consideration reason one and two but you're off your rocker for the third, and you should go hide in a closet before I murder you with my bare hands," he growls dangerously.

"Can Hermione clean the closet with meeeee?" I laugh hysterically as he throws me off his bed and hunts me down across the common room, flaming with anger. Mind you, he wouldn't react that way if there wasn't a tiny bit of truth in everything I said.

I duck around the corner of a dungeon hall and keep running with Draco close behind me, till I lead him exactly where I want. Where Ginny is hidden, not far, writing in her diary and crying her heart out away from prying eyes.

I let Draco catch up and violently pin me against the wall.

"Before you slaughter me, can I ask you a question, Malfoy?" I tempt as he sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Do you really have a crush on her or not?"

The answer flickers briefly through his eyes and my grin gets even wider than it already was. I vainly try to wipe it off as Draco enunciates all the ways he'll torture me if I mention this topic again but it's really too… oh I don't know, I think Pansy's delight for others' love lives is rubbing off on me.

And I shudder as an image of Pansy actually rubbing herself against me comes to my mind.

Snape's pov

I stroll down to the teachers' room lazily. Satisfied and happy that my sadistic tendencies got entertainment today. I love Gryffindors. Well, I hate them, really, but their classes are challenging. Thinking up witty comments to throw at them is exhilarating. And it eases up the tension I feel, pressuring me constantly and eating me inside.

Not only I have my spying job, but Draco is in danger, Ginny is in danger, I want to murder Lucius, I want Voldemort to crawl into his death like a mere worm. All this makes me even more edgy than I usually am. Thank Merlin for the students, always a nice outlet.

When I reach the staff room, it's completely deserted and I nearly smile at this. For once, no bloody Trelawney wanting to read my tea leaves, no Binns to make me doze off, no Minerva to challenge me at chess (you wouldn't imagine how frustrating it is to always lose to her), no Molly crying to me about her innocent little girl and how all this is a mistake.

Speaking of the devil, Molly enters. She seems flushed, like she ran all the way from her classroom. She squeals in the most undignified manner when she sees me.

"Severus! Guess what I did today? Come on, guess. GUESS I said!"

I look at her blankly while she twirls around me.

"I put them aaaaaaaaall in detention, and I took points off, and gave them plenty of homework, and I'm crazy crazy crazy, and it's a crazy crazy crazy day. I'm floating. But my feet touch the ground. Isn't that fascinating? Are you proud of me? I think you should be. And I should get a reward. For being a nice little Snapey-student. Don't you think? So I want a pink feather boa. Doesn't that sound great? All fluffy. And with sparkles on it…"

I watch her in dismay as she rambles and rambles and I actually get kind of worried. This is NOT Molly Weasley. This is some crazy lunatic who escaped the psych ward section in St-Mungo. She lost it.

Enough is enough. I drag her and her invisible pink feather boa to the hospital wing. She needs rest, obviously. Even though I know she won't be at peace inside as long as her kid is in danger. We cannot afford to have her break down now.

And another worry to add to my list…

now... reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeview... you know you want to