CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
[Start A Riot]
HERMIONE
She was planning something and Hermione knew it. It was ridiculously obvious with the way she was lingering around the bookshelves near where the bookworm sat. Hermione tried to ignore her at first, but the Slytherin was insistent on making her presence known. She kept shooting her indiscreet prying glances and Hermione raises an eyebrow back as to dare her to make a move.
"I believe," Pansy finally cuts the tension, stopping in front of Hermione's table. "That you have no use for that book anymore. You've read it five times over now. Whatever you're searching for it's not in there."
Hermione looks up from her text slowly, looking her up and down lazily before shrugging and going back to her book. Pansy Parkinson was a nasty piece of work she knew from first-hand experience. Always hanging off Malfoys' side like a stranded puppy and hexing anyone under the sun that didn't improve her own social standing. Hermione wasn't about to give into the one illusion that made her seem untouchable. She was pretty, sure, but was hardly as intimidating as she liked to believe herself to be. Don't give them the time of day and suddenly their entire platform was wiped out from underneath them.
The chair in front of her was suddenly pulled out from under the table. She didn't have to look up to know Pansy was now plopped down in front of her and staring at her, her head cupped in her hands.
"What do you want, Parkinson?"
"Your book of course. You're done with it, are you not? Take your notes and get on with it."
"As joyous as that sounds, I'll have to decline. It's not due for another week and I'm quite content with what I'm doing now thanks."
"What a drag, Granger. Your studying habits are quite atrocious. How do you find time to smother weasel and Potter between it all?"
"Easily, actually. Might be the time I save from not hexing every first-year I see in the hall."
Pansy laughs maliciously then kicks her feet up on the edge of the table. Hermione had to stop herself from grimacing as the dirt shakes off onto one of the decade old books. "Is that so? Then what about all your other stunts? I'm sure those take a considerable amount of planning."
She was trying to steer the topic away from its original topic. She hadn't meant for the book at all, Hermione realized. She wanted something from her.
"Well why don't you go read the prophet then? If you're so adamant about learning what I do in my free time I'm sure you'll be able to find it all with a little bit of digging."
"Touché," she smiles as she tilts her head to the side. "Your famous adventures."
Hermione nods her head, not giving away the slightest hint of emotion. Give them an inch and they take a mile. Though she had to admit Pansy was getting on her nerves. Harry was relying on her to fix that blasted curse. The idiot had already wasted valuable time on not neglecting to go to the nurse. She needed every second of her time focused and Pansy's presence was throwing her off. It didn't help that the frog spawn was right about her statement either. There was nothing else in this book but there were barely any books over the particular subject and it was making her feel helpless. Her patience was cutting short.
"The Obscurity of Curses and their Antidotes. Quite an advanced text for some light reading. Did Weasel already end up cursing himself? Or was it Scarhead this time?"
Hermione sets her books down finally and shoots her with a fixed stare. "I don't see what it is to you, Parkinson. Did you forget that you're in line for such a book as well? You're a pureblood after all. Shouldn't this knowledge come handed down? You ancestors worked hard on keeping such essential knowledge only in the hands of the powerful. Would be a shame to see it all go to waste."
Pansy laughs and tilts back her head. "You would have fit right into Slytherin. Sad you hadn't, we lost such a powerful witch in the process. Especially considering your parentage. You fell right into the hands of blood traitors sadly. You would have done well with knowledge "
Hermione hand travels to her wand under the it to Parkinson to be a racist bitch in every situation she could. Magic, no matter in what form, was a gift and to treat it with such disdain was disgraceful. Magic in all forms should be treasured.
"What are you doing, Parkinson?" Hermione finally snaps. "You clearly aren't here for the book, so what do you want? Unless you just wanted to provide me with more evidence on my research of corruption in magical law, which I doubt, as it wouldn't be a beneficial move on your part."
"What? Can't a witch get into the inter-house unity spirit?"
Hermione scoffs as she rolls her eyes. "Fat chance. Now get the bloody hell away from me."
"Or what?" Pansy taunts in an almost sing-song tone. She smirks again and leans forward close enough she can smell the peppermint gum on her breath. Hermione doesn't even blink. "You'll make me?"
"Do you want to test it?"
DRACO
Draco lets out a sigh of relief when the last Slytherin leaves the common room, leaving him alone. He sets down the transfiguration essay he has been working on and checks the time.
11:12
He curses. Harry probably thought he wasn't going to show now. That probably would be characteristic of him too in Harry's eyes. The thought led him to playing with his lip anxiously. He liked that they were on good terms and he really, really didn't want to mess that up. He was the only good thing that was happening to him.
He looked both ways to make sure no one was coming before booking it up one and through the portrait on the wall. Salazar only raises an eyebrow at him but otherwise stays silent. Draco made a note in his head to thank the painting later. With his luck the painting would want something in return.
The dungeon corridor was completely silent save for the flickering of the enchanted torches. Draco pulled his Quidditch jacket tighter around him to protect himself from the damp chill from the stones.
Either Harry was long gone or he was bluffing about knowing where his common room was. There was no one here. Of course there wasn't. Draco felt his cheeks go slightly red in embarrassment.
"Fucking Potter." He tucks a loose strand of hair behind his ear huffing. He shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. He pleasantly ignored the fact the plausibility that it was his fault for being late. "Of course he would-"
A hand suddenly covers his mouth from behind. Draco lets out an unmanly yelp. "Shut up. Do you want to get caught?"
He whips out of the grasp and around to the voice.
It was Harry. Or, most of him at least. The bottom half of him down was completely gone.
Suddenly Draco feels incredibly dumb. Naturally the idiot used his cloak to sneak out at night. What else.
Harry rolls his eyes at his blank face then grabs his wrist to pull him closer. In a flash he's pulled under the fabric and into Harry. Draco's eyes go wide. There's barely enough room for the both of them under it, and being that Draco is a few good inches taller, he had the crouch down slightly to be eye level.
"Harry-"
"I said shut up. Snape is coming."
At that very second his godfather comes sweeping around the corner. His black robes sweep around him menacingly as he examines the sealed entrance way to the common room. Draco holds his breath with fear. Draco has been extra conscious since the start of term with the man. He was one of Voldemort's closest followers, and yet he seemed to care for Draco as well. But which one more he didn't know. When the time came would his godfather hand him back over to the Dark Lord?
Snape snaps his attention off from the wall and to the seemingly empty corridor. Draco bit his lip panicking and made sure they weren't revealing themselves in any way. It was uncanny the way the man was looking directly through them.
"Do not hide from me. Revelio!"
Snape looks mildly annoyed at the fact his charm didn't work. "Don't play games with me. Homenum revelio!"
Draco's hand instinctively went to Harry's wrist. There was no way Snape wouldn't-
The man's jaw ticked and his hand tightened around his wand. Without a word he turned and fled back down the hallway he came. Draco's mouth dropped, dummy-slackened.
"What was that?" Draco whispers yells soon as he's out of sight. "Professor Snape just cast two detection charms and he didn't even catch a hint of our magical signature. Where did you get this?"
Draco touches the silvery material for the first time admiring how useful it really was.
Harry shrugs. "No clue. It was my dads before Dumbledore gave it to me when I was eleven. Now come on. I'm not going to stand in these freezing dungeons waiting to get eaten alive. The Halflorn siblings are on their prefect rounds about two hallway away. Let's go."
"And how do you know that?"
"I have my ways." Harry raises his eyebrow mischievously. He reaches into his robes for and reveals a slightly crinkled thing of parchment. It was yellowing from years of use. Draco was in the middle of opening his mouth for some smart-ass remark when Harry taps his wand to the front of it. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."
The paper suddenly transformed into an inky world-wind. The words 'Marauder's Map' started to inscribe themselves on the front. As Harry began to open it he instantly recognized it as a map of Hogwarts. Every single corridor and passageway was drawn out in perfect detail, even some Draco didn't know existed himself. Surprisingly he even found his own tower labeled but with no visible entranceway. The biggest thing were the dozens of moving dots moving throughout the corridors. On closer expectation he could see names scribbled underneath them.
There was a delicious moment where Draco's face washed blank with confusion, like his brain cogs couldn't turn fast enough to take in the information from his wide eyes. Every muscle of his body just froze before a grin crept onto his face, it soon stretched from one side to the other showing his perfectly mastered aristocratic smile. "That's brilliant."
"Exactly." He looks up and shoots Draco a stupid grin. Draco abruptly realizes how close they are. They're nearly nose-to-nose. Harry lets out a small laugh and it hits Draco's cheeks, turning them red.
They make in through the rest of the dungeons with ease. The entire time Draco's can't feel oddly bewildered. He had never snuck out before, always afraid of the repercussions his father would impose if he ever found out. It felt liberating and reckless and perfect. And as Harry dragged him along by the grasp Draco had on his wrist he couldn't help but smile a little back.
They set down the cloak to sit on by the edge of the lake. Draco's attention shifts from the boy beside him to above him. The stars light the sky like snow-flakes in the night, yet appear still, like an old muggle photograph. The lake at their feet was as flat as any mirror as it reflected the moon. It lay without a ripple in the murky black water as if time itself had been frozen. From the tall pines around the edge came not a sound, no movement of branches, no birds calling. It was just the two of them.
"Do you do that often?" Draco breaks the silence.
"Do what? Sneak out of the common room?"
Draco nods.
"Of course I have. It wouldn't be Hogwarts if I didn't." Harry points out. Then; "Don't tell Snape that though. "
Draco snorts as he lays back on the cloak. The strand of hair he kept tucking behind his ear came loose and fell lazily across his cheek. "Wouldn't dream of it."
"Isn't he supposed to be your favorite?" Harry teases. "Teachers pet afterall."
"What do you expect? Of course he's going to pick favorites. He's my godfather afterall."
"Godfather?"
"You're awfully slow. I figured the entire school already knew."
"Hell no. That- that actually makes a lot more sense now. I knew you couldn't possibly actually be that good a potions."
Draco pulls out a chunk of grass and flicks it at the brunet. "You're just jealous you can't even properly dice your ingredients."
"Unfair! I could if the bugger didn't breathe down my neck the entire time! The man has his own vendetta against me, I swear."
"Wouldn't be too far fetched," Draco says. He thinks back to all the cruel remarks he heard him spit at Harry during class. He used to laugh at them too. The thought twists his stomach.
"The cloak. You said it was you fathers?"
"What about it?"
Draco knew he should apologize for all the things he said about Harry's parents. Even after he had realized his father's misdoings he still used it as a low-blow on the boy to help his own ego. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing comes out.
"Draco?"
"It's just that… I've never seen one like it before. Most just have temporary charms on them and run out after about a year. Severus cast a presence detection spell on us and he didn't find us. It's like that erased our existence completely."
Harry shrugs. "No idea honestly. It's useful though."
"Certainly." He turns his attention away from the sky and back to Harry. He was still sitting cross legged and playing with the map. "May I see it?"
The map was a clever work of magic. A fascinating use of the homonculous charm. He would have never thought of such a use for it. Now that he held it in his hands he could see names written at the top.
"'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,'" Draco reads aloud. Incredibly odd nicknames. Who in their right mind would willingly let themself be called Wormtail?
"My dad and his friends made the map while in school." He answers Draco's questioning looks. He points out the last name on the list. "That's him, Prongs. And Padfoot, my godfather."
"Godfather?" Draco copies Harry from earlier. Except that it was actually a bit more surprising. "If you have a godfather, why on Salazar's name would that arse-licker send you to those bastard muggles? He has no legality to meddle into those affairs!"
"Well, I don't think Azkaban would have been a really nice place to raise a child." At Draco's confused face he clarifies. "Sirius Black."
The name sets him on edge. The famous Azkaban escapee that betrayed his friends and killed twelve defenseless muggles in the process. Also his second uncle. He remembers their third year when the dementors roamed the school while he was after Harry to finish the job. Sirius Black was the reason Harry's parents were dead and he had a scar engraved on his forehead.
Draco genuinely didn't know how to respond. Instead he just raises and imaginary glass into the air. "Cheers to horrible godfathers then?"
"Actually," Harry nervously taps his wand against his knee. A nervous habit he had Draco was starting to pick up on. "He was innocent."
Draco raises an eyebrow. "Oh? That's...quite a statement."
Harry sighs then points to the first name. "Wormtail: Peter Pettigrew."
Draco feels his blood freezes. It finally hits why the nickname seemed so familiar.
"Wormtail!"
A small, balding man steps up nervously from behind Voldmort's wannabe throne. His features were mousy and fit with his stuttering nature. He made sure not to meet his master's eyes, a sure death sentence in his presence. He settled for kneeling at his feet where Nagini laid, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. "Y-yes my lord?"
"Did I not tell you to keep the prisoners quiet?"
"You d-d-did, my lord."
"The why is my peaceful dinner being sabotaged by your ignorance? Surely you do you wish to be...disposed of your position?"
"N-no, my lord. I will fix it. R-Right now, my lord."
"Not so fast, Peter." A hand reaches down seemingly to pet the man's cheek. Instead he grips the man's jaw and forces him to meet his eyes. "How would we learn if we do not punish?"
Draco doesn't even see him bring out his wand. As soon as he hears the words 'crucio' leave the man's mouth his eyes involuntarily squeeze shut. Tremors racks through his body at the poor man's screams. On his left his father's hand grabs his leg tight enough to bruise as a warning to behave. He knew if he didn't it would be him on the floor as soon as the doors shut for the night.
"My Godfather was innocent and that rat framed him. He didn't even get a trial. I could have had a loving family… I…"
"There's no point in thinking about what could have been."
Harry shuffles his feet. "Heard that before. Doesn't make it any easier to block it out though."
The tension is back and Draco doesn't know what to do. He's dreadful at comforting people. Slytherin's weren't known for their openness and his parents never once showed him a flicker of warmth, so he simply never learned.
"Does Dumbledore know he's innocent?"
Harry's still for a moment contemplating something. Finally he shakes his head. "Yeah, he did."
"That blast-ended skank." Draco shakes his head. "He's the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, he can pardon anyone if at least a third of the court agreed with him. He could simply point out the fact he never got a trial and they'll have to let him be a free man until the court date and which I don't doubt he'll win if Dumbledore is on his side."
Harry is caught off guard. "He- what? He can do that?"
"No wonder you dropped history of magic. Yes, he can. If he wanted he can order an investigation into the case and whoever sent him without wrongly can face up to five years in Azkaban. I know you'd rather not hear it but I stand with what I said that day. If Dumbledore really wants to you can be out of the house with a snap of his fingers."
"Oh." He says dumbly. "It doesn't really matter now anyways."
"And why is that? You could finally be free, don't you want that?"
"He's dead." Harry's eyes are blank when he says it. It's almost frightening the way the dark lake reflects on his startling green eyes.
Draco swallows heavily and tears his gaze away. From his reaction he had no idea how close the two of them were but he knew from experience it was… confusing. He'd read all about the stages of grief to know that himself was still in the denial stage with Bramble. After all, how could he ever believe his father? It might have been a bluff but who knows. There was a brief second where he did though. Right after he muttered those words in the inn where it felt like emptiness in his heart, a shear of nothingness that somehow took over and held his soul and threatened to kill him entirely. It gave him a heavy feeling that's like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders and there was nothing he could do to get out from under it.
"I'm sorry."
"Well like you said, there's no point thinking about what could have been."
Draco looks up at the sky where he easily spots Canis Major. Harry follows his gaze and his expression seems to crack.
"Yeah."
