I know, this took too long! But I'm starting the next chapter right now, so never fear.
Sorry this is a bit choppy, but I needed the different POVs to come through.
Dear JP,
Agent 23 momentarily out of the picture. Should be fixed soon however, so don't fret.
DM.
Jack scowled at the parchment as if it had done him a great injustice, and stormed angrily from Headquarters to the Hog's Head – he needed a drink.
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Ron Weasley was not happy. It was bad enough that he'd ingested a love potion past its best – but he'd been positively yelled at by his leader afterwards. It had been bloody lucky Harry had figured out what had happened. He had come to in Slughorn's office thoroughly disgusted with himself.
["Pick-me-up, that's what he needs," Slughorn continued, now bustling over to a table loaded with drinks. "I've got Butterbeer, I've got wine, I've got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead... hmm... meant to give that to Dumbledore for Christmas... ah well..." he shrugged.] p371
Something inside Ron's head clicked. This was what he had been waiting for – he'd been told to intercept a drink 'meant for Dumbledore' from Slughorn! It seemed Ron's luck was changing. He could only hope he didn't freak Harry out too much. This was going to take some brilliant acting on his part.
["... he can't miss what he's never had! Why don't we open it now and celebrate Mr Weasley's birthday? Nothing like a fine spirit to chase away the pangs of disappointed love..."
He chortled again and Harry joined in. This was the first time he had found himself almost alone with Slughorn since his disastrous first attempt to extract the true memory from him. Perhaps, if he could just keep Slughorn in a good mood... perhaps if they got through enough of the oak-matured mead...
"There you are, then," said Slughorn, handing Harry and Ron a glass of mead each, before raising his own. "Well, a very happy birthday, Ralph -"
"- Ron -" whispered Harry.
But Ron, who did not appear to be listening to the toast, had already thrown the mead into his mouth and swallowed it.] p372 'Here goes nothing,' thought Ron, as he began his deception.
[There was a second, hardly more than a heartbeat, in which Harry knew there was something terribly wrong and Slighorn, it seemed, did not.
"- and may you have many more -"
"Ron!"
Ron had dropped his glass; he half-rose from his chair and then crumpled, his extremities jerking uncontrollably. Foam was dribbling from his mouth and his eyes were bulging from their sockets.] p372
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Ron was rather irritated. He'd been trying for 'incapacitated for some time', but unfortunately Harry had thrown a bloody bezoar down his throat. Obviously, he had to pretend to get better after that. However, he had been able to 'sleep' enough to catch up on what he had missed over the Link, so it hadn't been a complete waste.
Of course, it was rather lucky that Pomphrey was easily fooled. If Harry had dragged him up here thinking that he was helping and the nurse was smart, he would've had a problem. As it was, everything could be salvaged.
The Lord General was pretty pissed off though. Ron could actually feel his anger as they connected their minds. It wasn't fun.
'What happened?! Everything was going perfectly! 26 needs back-up, 23! And how the hell did you end up taking over-due love potion?'
'Uh, well, it was meant for Harry – he didn't throw it out I guess, I mean -'
'For fuck's sake. Clearly, we're going to have to get someone else to do this.' Ron didn't trust himself to contribute any further. The Master slammed out of Ron's mind with force, reminding him of someone slamming a door. Except, slamming doors didn't give anyone a headache.
On the plus side, it made his pain that more real when he 'woke up' to face his family and friends in the Hospital Wing.
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"Bloody Potter!" The glass shattered instantly upon impact with the wall. Draco couldn't conceal a wince – he was standing less than 10cm from it. Actually, he was quite surprised by the current situation. His Master rarely got this upset, so there had to be something going on here that he was missing. Draco was intelligent; this was about more than Potter 'saving' Weasley.
"Master? Maybe -"
"Come here. Now." The order was not entirely unexpected, but Draco was wary. Master could be vicious when he was calmer than this, so what would he be like now? But his hesitance only served to anger Jack further.
He reached out and began tearing Draco's uniform from his body. In moments, Draco's shirt was in tatters, his trousers in half, and every other item flung out around the room. Draco stayed very still – now was definitely not the time for sudden moves. In fact, when his Master stepped back he was worried. There was concern in his eyes, and it was so unexpected that Draco didn't know what to say. So he stood, mute, and waited.
"I scared you." It was barely a whisper, but Draco felt his eyes tear up in response. Master had never sounded so dejected.
"No, not really. I'm fine. But I thought you were going to fuck me?" He smiled, trying to make a joke of it, but Jack couldn't smile back. Instead he stretched out his arms, and Draco stepped into them gratefully. He nuzzled into the crook of his lover's neck, smiling softly.
"Do you want me to? Is that all we are?" The calm tone was quiet but shattering, and Draco could have hit him for it.
"No, of course not. I love you." Jack smiled and held him tighter.
"I love you too."
Please review, they feed my write-ability! Next one should come soon, promise! :)
