Well, the trailers for the Prisoner of Azkaban are out now, as you all may know, and I simply adore them. But have you seen Draco's hair?! What did they do to him? I mean, what were they exactly trying to accompl-
*is clonked on the head by large piece of metal*
Draco: That outta show you! What it is? Bash on me month?! First you put me through all this guilt, then I get no speaking lines last chapter, and now you're insulting my hair?!
FireValkyrie: *is unconscious*
Draco: MUHUHAHAHA!
FireValkyrie: .......
Draco: Now time to exact some revenge! *tries to think up something good*
FireValkyrie: *wakes up as Draco is plotting* *is rather pissed off*
Draco: ...and then I tie her in the dungeons-
FireValkyrie: You stupid prat!
Draco: GAH!
FireValkyrie: Now I'm glad about what I did to you!
Draco: It's 'cause I'm a Slytherin, isn't it?!
FireValkyrie: So am I, moron! Now get back into that hospital bed!
Draco: FINE!
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A/N: Draco is a prat.
Draco: No I'm not!!
A/N: A whiny prat.
Okay, here ya go. Sorry about that.
Chapter 16- A Price Too Big
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Snape strode straight into the hospital wing past Harry to Draco's bed where he examined the boy with a smug expression. He seemed to be in a slightly better humor, most likely due to the fact that Ron had just received a month's detention with Filch and another month of cauldron cleaning with himself, and as of now, Gryffindor was forty points poorer. Harry wasn't sure if he should address the man or not.
"Pretty fast work for your first day out, Potter. Not even Longbottom could have provoked such chaos." Snape straightened up from Draco's bed and looked at Harry with a hard expression, as if trying to decipher something. Only he could turn someone's name into an insult.
"It was an accident."
"Was it?" His icy voice suggested otherwise. Harry stayed silent. He wasn't going to play another battle of wits with Snape. It wasn't worth it.
"Severus? What are you doing here again? Haven't you haunted my hospital enough in these past few days?" Madam Pomfrey poked her head out from behind a curtain. "Really, what is it with you kids and this hospital?" Snape glared at her, but it went wasted as her sole concern became examining Draco.
"When can he leave?" his ice-voice demanded.
"Oh, he won't be leaving this bed for at least two weeks. And you won't be removing him anytime sooner than that, Severus. That was a nasty little curse he got-"
"Not Malfoy, Potter."
Harry looked calculatingly at Snape. So his time had come.
Madam Pomfrey turned her head in Harry's direction. "He can leave, Severus, but he has to see me every evening for the next three weeks. I'm going to know if you wear him out or not."
//Wear me out?! What's she talking about? Is that why she's making me come and see her every night?//
"Then you shall see." He turned curtly and made to exit the hospital. "Come with me, Potter."
With barely a glance at Madam Pomfrey, Harry sprang off his bed and after Snape. Not knowing what terrible things awaited him was bad, but not following Snape's instructions were worse.
He had to run to catch up with Snape's long strides, and once he did, he made to question the great Potions Master. "Sir..."
"Our training sessions are to resume as scheduled, Potter."
"The training?" They passed a Ravenclaw on their way to, what Harry assumed, was the Great Hall.
"Quiet, foolish boy!" Snape glared at the Ravenclaw that consequently hurried his way off.
Harry looked hopefully at a Dractnox. It seemed like forever since he had last -successfully- spoken to them, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to start communing again anytime soon. Life was a lot more difficult since he had had raw information at his fingertips- and lost it. It was like losing a part of his being, and he hated not being able to apply control. He knew he held a great power within him now, but the last time he had tried to use it, it had almost destroyed him. With this thought in mind, he turned his head to look at the man beside him. Had it not been for he-who-was-currently-pissed at Harry, and the mind tricks he had played, he would be gone.
"Sir?"
"Quiet, Potter, or I'll deduct fifty points." Snape was obviously not in the mood for conversation. Yet despite his words, Harry grinned. It had been a systematic point-taking that had saved his life.
This good humor Harry was currently in was cut short as soon as they reached the Great Hall. He should have known he couldn't get off with Snape so easily.
"Your detentions are to take place starting this evening, Potter." Snape's frosty voice intoned. "And should you be late, Gryffindor will pay the penalty." With this said, or sneered, Snape stalked off to the head table for his breakfast. Harry was left behind with a confused expression and the stares of his classmates.
//Detentions?! Surely he means the training. Maybe I'm supposed to say I have detention every evening...//
"Harry!" Hermione signaled him over to her and he sat down at the table, trying to ignore all the stares. Ron was picking at his breakfast with paltry interest, looking like a puppy whom had been severely scolded. The Gryffindor table seemed a little too happy this morning. Except for the big grin he received from Neville, Harry tried to ignore all the eyes he felt boring into his back. "So you've noticed the stares as well."
"Yeah..."
News always spread fast around Hogwarts, and the sudden appearance of Harry after so many days of absence, coupled with Ron's latest exploit, was more than enough to earn stares from any and all.
"Neville's made three galleons off of Ernie Macmillian because of you." Harry frowned. Was that what he was so happy about? "Ernie bet that your 'Blinkerbug bite' had turned you into one. Foolish if you ask me, but Neville's won the bet, and he's more than glad."
"They bet on me?"
"Everyone's been worried, Harry. Especially after this morning." She lowered her voice. "Fred's been telling everyone about what Ron did." Harry cast his eyes towards Ron. He didn't look too happy. "You have some explaining to do, Harry."
"What happened?"
"Snape took both of us to his office after you took Malfoy to the hospital," her voice betrayed a note of resentfulness, "that's why we didn't follow you. Snape was going to give us both a detention, but Ron took it. Ron took the blame for everything. He convinced Snape that I had nothing to do with it and he took it all." Her voice, although quiet, clearly reflected the pride she felt in Ron. It made harry feel all the worse for having put them in that position in the first place.
"He has double detention?"
"Two months. One with Snape, and one with Filch. We've also lost forty house points."
Harry looked around at his fellow Gryffindors. Despite the current loss of points, and the staring, they seemed rather cheery. Hermione had an answer for that, too.
"Nobody can believe that Malfoy finally got what he deserved. Ron's been deemed a hero, and Fred's going to throw a party in Gryffindor Tower later."
"Ron doesn't seem too happy about it..."
"Neither do you. What's going on, Harry? Why won't you tell us?"
Ron pushed his plate away and got up from the table. "I'll be in the tower..."
"Okay, Ron. I'll see you up there later, alright?" Hermione tried to act cheerful, but she knew he was hurting inside and nothing she could say, or had already said, could seem to change that.
"Hm..." He left the table like one setting off for his own execution.
"Is he alright, Hermione?"
"Of course he isn't. He's fit to be tied, Harry. We both are. It's obvious that something's going on with you, and you won't even tell us what it is. We've been worried sick about you!" Her voice lowered even more, but the concern, and anger, were still prominent. "And what about Malfoy, Harry? This whole morning has been one big mess after another. Ron's been worrying himself silly, and I know he tries to hide it, but we're both concerned about you, and we want to help you through whatever it is you're dealing with. Why won't you let us?!"
Harry looked around at all the eyes still interested in him. "Not here, Hermione-"
"Then where? When, Harry?!"
"It's difficult-"
"Then let me help! You know I'm good with difficult thing, so let me help. Please, Harry. Stop shutting me out and let me help you."
Harry looked long and hard at his friend, and spent an equal amount of time studying the woodwork of the table. Hermione's brown eyes revealed a hunger for whatever secret he was keeping, and an even greater desire to help him.
//Dumbledore said that there would be consequences...Last time I didn't listen to him, -I- almost died. What about them? What if-//
"Harry, please. You know we can handle whatever it is. We've been through so much together already, all three of us. There's nothing we can't handle if we do it together, so please. If not for me, do it for Ron. He deserves your trust more than anyone I know."
It was killing Harry to not give in to her request, but he was sure that if he did, it may result in the death one of them, and he couldn't bear that.
"Hermione...it's not worth your life just so you can know. I can't put you or Ron in that kind of a position. I never could...You know I could never do that to you knowing what might happen..."
"Harry..."
"Please, Hermione, don't ask me again."
"Harry..." Her eyes were brimming with tears, and she had to run out of the Great Hall before she spilled them that morning at the Gryffindor table.
Harry received several inquiring looks, but he ignored them and left. He cursed the day he'd ever set eyes upon the Dractnox, and cursed the boy who had brought such a fate upon him. a fate he had never wanted, and had never asked for, yet so ironically received.
He was walking on anger with the intention of fixing everything that had ever gone wrong with his life. He didn't realize until he was upon its great doors that his feet had carried him to the hospital wing; the very wing where his troubles had all started, and where they could all be ended; the very wing where the boy who had initiated everything was currently being held, unconscious, defenseless, and helpless.
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Yes, I know, a rather poignant, emotional chapter. But what are ya gonna do? The Cliffhanger Queen is back once more! I was going to let Harry tell Hermione, but this just makes things a bit more interesting. I'm in a cruel mood, and decided that this would make for an interesting twist. As always, leave me juicy reviews...I know I would.
ParanoiaIn2005: Yay! *I* got a rambling response! I simply loove these long reviews...or responses or whatever you wanna call 'em. Glad you liked my curse. I use it on my sister all the- Wha? You weren't supposed to hear that...But yay! I'm glad I can properly work around my obstacles! Yeah, Draco won't change completely. My guess is that he'd turn out to be someone like Snape...or a swanky nightclub owner:) He is rich, afterall. And I like to believe that my Madam Pomfrey is based off of how she hates it when people won't leave her hospital alone. She thinks it must be 'hip'. Either that, or the children are really irresponsible dolts. And Harry *is* sort of being punished by Snape, but the man does have faith in him and his abilities, but he'd probably cut out his own tongue before admiting it. And don't you worry about the twins. Ron threw that firework at Fred when he was *asleep*, so many chapters ago, remember? You don't really think I'd forget about that, do you? *rubs her hands in diabolical planning* Oh yes.....
Anne: Yay! Yet another long review!! You love my story? Hurray! I love it when my fic provokes so many different...and interesting responses:) But yeah, Draco won't go back completely evil, I couldn't do that. Harry will speak to the Dractnoxes soon. I promise. I take Latin too, so it makes writing the story a lot more fun and easy. So much of JKR's stuff revolves around Latin that I think i'm definately in the right place=^..^=
PhoenixPadfoot89: Glad you don't think they're too buddy-buddy. I want to try and avoid any jumpings of the gun. But it makes me so happy that you like what I'm doing. It's all worth it to hear that :D And I feel simply delighted that you liked my latest chappie! It's good that you think Ron's character is reacting properly. That means I've hopefully been keeping him in character. I've updated especially for you:)
mrs-osbourne's-class: I always look forward to reading your reviews! They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside every single time:) It's great that you're still enjoying it! I haven't bored you silly yet? Excellent. I hope I'm inventive so that that doesn't happen, or else, well...I don' really know, but yeah. I feel simply elated to hear that it's different than other fics out there. I often see the same thing over and over again, so I'm glad this storyline hasn't been played out yet:) And to say I keep JKR's original flavor? *faints with delight* I may have to quote you on that:D And my dry sense of humor? You mean you're not wetting your pants in hilarity? Hmmm...But seriously, I've never been called that, so what exactly does that mean? It's a compliment, i hope=^..^= I'll update anytime for you!!
Katani Petitedra: Well, I suppose in the Severus Snape sense, Draco is rather nice now, huh? Happy Happy Happy Happy!!
*is clonked on the head by large piece of metal*
Draco: That outta show you! What it is? Bash on me month?! First you put me through all this guilt, then I get no speaking lines last chapter, and now you're insulting my hair?!
FireValkyrie: *is unconscious*
Draco: MUHUHAHAHA!
FireValkyrie: .......
Draco: Now time to exact some revenge! *tries to think up something good*
FireValkyrie: *wakes up as Draco is plotting* *is rather pissed off*
Draco: ...and then I tie her in the dungeons-
FireValkyrie: You stupid prat!
Draco: GAH!
FireValkyrie: Now I'm glad about what I did to you!
Draco: It's 'cause I'm a Slytherin, isn't it?!
FireValkyrie: So am I, moron! Now get back into that hospital bed!
Draco: FINE!
*********************************
A/N: Draco is a prat.
Draco: No I'm not!!
A/N: A whiny prat.
Okay, here ya go. Sorry about that.
Chapter 16- A Price Too Big
*********************************
Snape strode straight into the hospital wing past Harry to Draco's bed where he examined the boy with a smug expression. He seemed to be in a slightly better humor, most likely due to the fact that Ron had just received a month's detention with Filch and another month of cauldron cleaning with himself, and as of now, Gryffindor was forty points poorer. Harry wasn't sure if he should address the man or not.
"Pretty fast work for your first day out, Potter. Not even Longbottom could have provoked such chaos." Snape straightened up from Draco's bed and looked at Harry with a hard expression, as if trying to decipher something. Only he could turn someone's name into an insult.
"It was an accident."
"Was it?" His icy voice suggested otherwise. Harry stayed silent. He wasn't going to play another battle of wits with Snape. It wasn't worth it.
"Severus? What are you doing here again? Haven't you haunted my hospital enough in these past few days?" Madam Pomfrey poked her head out from behind a curtain. "Really, what is it with you kids and this hospital?" Snape glared at her, but it went wasted as her sole concern became examining Draco.
"When can he leave?" his ice-voice demanded.
"Oh, he won't be leaving this bed for at least two weeks. And you won't be removing him anytime sooner than that, Severus. That was a nasty little curse he got-"
"Not Malfoy, Potter."
Harry looked calculatingly at Snape. So his time had come.
Madam Pomfrey turned her head in Harry's direction. "He can leave, Severus, but he has to see me every evening for the next three weeks. I'm going to know if you wear him out or not."
//Wear me out?! What's she talking about? Is that why she's making me come and see her every night?//
"Then you shall see." He turned curtly and made to exit the hospital. "Come with me, Potter."
With barely a glance at Madam Pomfrey, Harry sprang off his bed and after Snape. Not knowing what terrible things awaited him was bad, but not following Snape's instructions were worse.
He had to run to catch up with Snape's long strides, and once he did, he made to question the great Potions Master. "Sir..."
"Our training sessions are to resume as scheduled, Potter."
"The training?" They passed a Ravenclaw on their way to, what Harry assumed, was the Great Hall.
"Quiet, foolish boy!" Snape glared at the Ravenclaw that consequently hurried his way off.
Harry looked hopefully at a Dractnox. It seemed like forever since he had last -successfully- spoken to them, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to start communing again anytime soon. Life was a lot more difficult since he had had raw information at his fingertips- and lost it. It was like losing a part of his being, and he hated not being able to apply control. He knew he held a great power within him now, but the last time he had tried to use it, it had almost destroyed him. With this thought in mind, he turned his head to look at the man beside him. Had it not been for he-who-was-currently-pissed at Harry, and the mind tricks he had played, he would be gone.
"Sir?"
"Quiet, Potter, or I'll deduct fifty points." Snape was obviously not in the mood for conversation. Yet despite his words, Harry grinned. It had been a systematic point-taking that had saved his life.
This good humor Harry was currently in was cut short as soon as they reached the Great Hall. He should have known he couldn't get off with Snape so easily.
"Your detentions are to take place starting this evening, Potter." Snape's frosty voice intoned. "And should you be late, Gryffindor will pay the penalty." With this said, or sneered, Snape stalked off to the head table for his breakfast. Harry was left behind with a confused expression and the stares of his classmates.
//Detentions?! Surely he means the training. Maybe I'm supposed to say I have detention every evening...//
"Harry!" Hermione signaled him over to her and he sat down at the table, trying to ignore all the stares. Ron was picking at his breakfast with paltry interest, looking like a puppy whom had been severely scolded. The Gryffindor table seemed a little too happy this morning. Except for the big grin he received from Neville, Harry tried to ignore all the eyes he felt boring into his back. "So you've noticed the stares as well."
"Yeah..."
News always spread fast around Hogwarts, and the sudden appearance of Harry after so many days of absence, coupled with Ron's latest exploit, was more than enough to earn stares from any and all.
"Neville's made three galleons off of Ernie Macmillian because of you." Harry frowned. Was that what he was so happy about? "Ernie bet that your 'Blinkerbug bite' had turned you into one. Foolish if you ask me, but Neville's won the bet, and he's more than glad."
"They bet on me?"
"Everyone's been worried, Harry. Especially after this morning." She lowered her voice. "Fred's been telling everyone about what Ron did." Harry cast his eyes towards Ron. He didn't look too happy. "You have some explaining to do, Harry."
"What happened?"
"Snape took both of us to his office after you took Malfoy to the hospital," her voice betrayed a note of resentfulness, "that's why we didn't follow you. Snape was going to give us both a detention, but Ron took it. Ron took the blame for everything. He convinced Snape that I had nothing to do with it and he took it all." Her voice, although quiet, clearly reflected the pride she felt in Ron. It made harry feel all the worse for having put them in that position in the first place.
"He has double detention?"
"Two months. One with Snape, and one with Filch. We've also lost forty house points."
Harry looked around at his fellow Gryffindors. Despite the current loss of points, and the staring, they seemed rather cheery. Hermione had an answer for that, too.
"Nobody can believe that Malfoy finally got what he deserved. Ron's been deemed a hero, and Fred's going to throw a party in Gryffindor Tower later."
"Ron doesn't seem too happy about it..."
"Neither do you. What's going on, Harry? Why won't you tell us?"
Ron pushed his plate away and got up from the table. "I'll be in the tower..."
"Okay, Ron. I'll see you up there later, alright?" Hermione tried to act cheerful, but she knew he was hurting inside and nothing she could say, or had already said, could seem to change that.
"Hm..." He left the table like one setting off for his own execution.
"Is he alright, Hermione?"
"Of course he isn't. He's fit to be tied, Harry. We both are. It's obvious that something's going on with you, and you won't even tell us what it is. We've been worried sick about you!" Her voice lowered even more, but the concern, and anger, were still prominent. "And what about Malfoy, Harry? This whole morning has been one big mess after another. Ron's been worrying himself silly, and I know he tries to hide it, but we're both concerned about you, and we want to help you through whatever it is you're dealing with. Why won't you let us?!"
Harry looked around at all the eyes still interested in him. "Not here, Hermione-"
"Then where? When, Harry?!"
"It's difficult-"
"Then let me help! You know I'm good with difficult thing, so let me help. Please, Harry. Stop shutting me out and let me help you."
Harry looked long and hard at his friend, and spent an equal amount of time studying the woodwork of the table. Hermione's brown eyes revealed a hunger for whatever secret he was keeping, and an even greater desire to help him.
//Dumbledore said that there would be consequences...Last time I didn't listen to him, -I- almost died. What about them? What if-//
"Harry, please. You know we can handle whatever it is. We've been through so much together already, all three of us. There's nothing we can't handle if we do it together, so please. If not for me, do it for Ron. He deserves your trust more than anyone I know."
It was killing Harry to not give in to her request, but he was sure that if he did, it may result in the death one of them, and he couldn't bear that.
"Hermione...it's not worth your life just so you can know. I can't put you or Ron in that kind of a position. I never could...You know I could never do that to you knowing what might happen..."
"Harry..."
"Please, Hermione, don't ask me again."
"Harry..." Her eyes were brimming with tears, and she had to run out of the Great Hall before she spilled them that morning at the Gryffindor table.
Harry received several inquiring looks, but he ignored them and left. He cursed the day he'd ever set eyes upon the Dractnox, and cursed the boy who had brought such a fate upon him. a fate he had never wanted, and had never asked for, yet so ironically received.
He was walking on anger with the intention of fixing everything that had ever gone wrong with his life. He didn't realize until he was upon its great doors that his feet had carried him to the hospital wing; the very wing where his troubles had all started, and where they could all be ended; the very wing where the boy who had initiated everything was currently being held, unconscious, defenseless, and helpless.
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Yes, I know, a rather poignant, emotional chapter. But what are ya gonna do? The Cliffhanger Queen is back once more! I was going to let Harry tell Hermione, but this just makes things a bit more interesting. I'm in a cruel mood, and decided that this would make for an interesting twist. As always, leave me juicy reviews...I know I would.
ParanoiaIn2005: Yay! *I* got a rambling response! I simply loove these long reviews...or responses or whatever you wanna call 'em. Glad you liked my curse. I use it on my sister all the- Wha? You weren't supposed to hear that...But yay! I'm glad I can properly work around my obstacles! Yeah, Draco won't change completely. My guess is that he'd turn out to be someone like Snape...or a swanky nightclub owner:) He is rich, afterall. And I like to believe that my Madam Pomfrey is based off of how she hates it when people won't leave her hospital alone. She thinks it must be 'hip'. Either that, or the children are really irresponsible dolts. And Harry *is* sort of being punished by Snape, but the man does have faith in him and his abilities, but he'd probably cut out his own tongue before admiting it. And don't you worry about the twins. Ron threw that firework at Fred when he was *asleep*, so many chapters ago, remember? You don't really think I'd forget about that, do you? *rubs her hands in diabolical planning* Oh yes.....
Anne: Yay! Yet another long review!! You love my story? Hurray! I love it when my fic provokes so many different...and interesting responses:) But yeah, Draco won't go back completely evil, I couldn't do that. Harry will speak to the Dractnoxes soon. I promise. I take Latin too, so it makes writing the story a lot more fun and easy. So much of JKR's stuff revolves around Latin that I think i'm definately in the right place=^..^=
PhoenixPadfoot89: Glad you don't think they're too buddy-buddy. I want to try and avoid any jumpings of the gun. But it makes me so happy that you like what I'm doing. It's all worth it to hear that :D And I feel simply delighted that you liked my latest chappie! It's good that you think Ron's character is reacting properly. That means I've hopefully been keeping him in character. I've updated especially for you:)
mrs-osbourne's-class: I always look forward to reading your reviews! They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside every single time:) It's great that you're still enjoying it! I haven't bored you silly yet? Excellent. I hope I'm inventive so that that doesn't happen, or else, well...I don' really know, but yeah. I feel simply elated to hear that it's different than other fics out there. I often see the same thing over and over again, so I'm glad this storyline hasn't been played out yet:) And to say I keep JKR's original flavor? *faints with delight* I may have to quote you on that:D And my dry sense of humor? You mean you're not wetting your pants in hilarity? Hmmm...But seriously, I've never been called that, so what exactly does that mean? It's a compliment, i hope=^..^= I'll update anytime for you!!
Katani Petitedra: Well, I suppose in the Severus Snape sense, Draco is rather nice now, huh? Happy Happy Happy Happy!!